COVID-19 cases surpass 1000 in Folsom State Prison

Information released from the California Department of Corrections (CDCR), illustrates that the recent outbreak of COVID-19 inside Folsom State Prison has not slowed down in recent weeks with more than 1,000 inmates now having tested positive so far. Latest data shows that Folsom State Prison now has had a confirmed 1,089 positive cases of COVID-19 reported. Of those cases, 585 are new, reported in the last 14 days. Since COVID-19 case reporting began, 533 of the cases in Folsom State Prison are being reported as resolved or recovered. In addition to the population numbers, 38 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19; however 33 of those members have recovered and returned to work. "The department is monitoring the situation very closely," CDCR spokeswoman Dana Simas said in a statement to media agencies.. "There is an incident command post which is in coordination with the court appointed Federal Receiver at the prison. We have, since the beginning of the outbreak, implemented serial testing for inmates, increased staffing, and facilitated isolation for those that have tested positive to COVID-19." The prison has 2,427 incarcerated inmates, according to CDCR's virus tracker, and it has tested 1,863 of them in the past 14 days, which accounts for 77 percent of the prison's population. Simas confirmed that CDCR continues to utilize "installed tents at the site to create additional space to manage the patient population" and is providing both staff and inmates with appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) and access to hand sanitizer. The Sacramento County COVID-19 tracking website denotes that all cases of COVID-19 are not included in case numbers for Folsom, but are being tallied in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County. Folsom State Prison is not part of the Folsom zip code but carries its own designation as Repressa, 95761. The corrected data now shows Folsom at 377 total cases of COVID-19 and six total deaths. Sacramento County's latest statistics show 21,800 cases, 172 of those being new in the last 24-hours. A total of 393 deaths are reported in the county, 10 of which were in the last day. Overall, Sacramento County continues to decline in the number of daily cases and hospitalizations. The current data cites Folsom Prison as having the highest current active case total among all California state prisons. In total, CDCR institutions have recorded more than 12,300 cases of COVID-19 in inmates, more than 1,700 of them still active as of Wednesday. More than 3,300 CDCR staff have tested positive, 1,061 of whom still had active infections this week. Sixty inmates and nine CDCR staff members have died of COVID-19 complications throughout California's state prison system. One CalPIA employee who worked at Folsom's facility reportedly died of the virus last month.