This from the Kokomo Tribune: BUNKER HILL, IN – Miami Correctional Facility is on lockdown after nearly 60 inmates and five prison workers tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.
James Frye, the prison’s public information officer, said new cases were discovered last week, prompting a COVID strike team from the Indiana Department of Health to come to the facility over the weekend to do rapid testing.
On Tuesday, testing results showed 15 inmates and eight workers had contracted the virus. On Wednesday, those numbers jumped to 60 offenders and 10 staff.
Before the weekend, only two inmates and five staff in total had tested positive since the Indiana Department of Correction started testing for COVID.
On Wednesday, 238 inmates were in quarantine, and one was being held in isolation. The total prison population sits at around 3,100.
Frye said all quarantining is being done in one area of the prison, but the entire facility is on lockdown.
He said those who are symptomatic or test positive will be held in quarantine for 14 days, and released back into the general prison population once they test negative.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure everyone is safe and healthy, including the staff and offenders,” Frye said.
He said increased testing will continue at the prison as needed. The IDOC said it is testing those with symptoms and exposure risk based on “clinical decision making and in a targeted manner in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
In total, 75 inmates and 25 staff workers have been tested.
