Almost every inmate at Alaska’s largest prison has caught COVID-19 since the virus first appeared at the facility in November, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday.
Of the 1,236 inmates at Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla, Alaska, 1,115 have tested positive for COVID-19 since the first reported positive case in November, according to spokesperson Sarah Gallagher, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Around 110 cases were reportedly active as of Monday.
“To date, 1,271 tests have been recorded at GCCC, though this figure may be slightly increased due to the fact that DOC has performed both antigen and PCR tests, which may have resulted in an offender’s positive test being counted twice,” Gallagher said, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
“We believe roughly 1,115 offenders have tested positive at Goose Creek to data,” Gallagher added, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Nearly every inmate at Alaska’s biggest prison has contracted COVID-19 https://t.co/mHPzaC5DPO pic.twitter.com/GqOsKRemBZ
— The Hill (@thehill) December 30, 2020
In prisons across Alaska, over 40% of the total inmate population has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Around 1,770 people caught COVID-19 while in the facility’s general population and 192 people were positive for the virus upon arrival.
Since the outbreak, 22 inmates have been hospitalized and five have died, according to the Anchorage Daily News. (RELATED: Belarusian Government Accused Of Letting COVID-19 Spread In Prisons Packed With Its President’s Critics)
It’s unclear whether the general population will receive the vaccine, though eight inmates who live in the infirmaries at two facilities have been vaccinated along with 46 staff members, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Around one in every five people incarcerated across the nation has had COVID-19, according to the Anchorage Daily News. At least 276,235 positive cases and 1,738 deaths have been reported since the pandemic began, The Marshall Project reported.
The Goose Creek Correctional Center did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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