Coronavirus-related deaths in prisons increased 73% since mid-May totaling at least 607, according to the NYT’s database. The highest number of confirmed prison COVID-19 cases have been at Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio (2,439).
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus in prisons and correctional facilities nearly doubled in May to at least 67,000, the NYT reported. The NYT database includes confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths as well as probable cases and deaths. Probable cases and deaths include those who tested positive based on local and state government evaluations, and confirmed cases and deaths include only those who tested positive from a laboratory test.
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“Every day is nerve-racking. I already have to fight things everyday, but fighting the coronavirus, it’s not a fair fight because they keep us in the dark about a lot of things,” Connecticut inmate Elijah McDowell told the NYT.
To contain the spread of the virus in prisons in March, the New York City Board of Corrections and officials called for the release many inmates. (RELATED: ’37 Minutes Later’: Inmates Released From Jail Due To Coronavirus Fears Keep Getting Arrested Again)
More than 48,000 deaths from the coronavirus were in nursing and long term care facilities, accounting for 40% of coronavirus deaths in the United States, according to the NYT data.
“This disease creates the potential for a perfect storm in a long term care facility–large groups of vulnerable people living together and a highly transmissible virus that may not cause symptoms in those who care for them,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Daniel Rusyniak of the Indiana State Social Services Agency told the NYT.
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