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Cases of the rapidly spreading B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant have more than doubled in Michigan this week, fueled by 90 newly reported cases in a prison in Ionia.
Of the 157 known cases of stress in the state, 91 are according to a health department at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, according to the health department.
Testing of the variant in a state laboratory confirmed 88 prison cases and three personnel cases in Bellamy Creek. More than 100 additional results from the prison depend.
The contagious variant, first detected in the UK, leaves some prisoners and their loved ones wondering when the spread of the virus behind the walls of the prison will end. About 62% of the people housed by the Department of Corrections in Michigan tested positive for COVID-19. Of the current nationwide population of approximately 33,000 inmates, approximately 4,000 received at least one dose of the vaccine. Under the leadership of the state for prioritization groups, all prison staff and inmates 65 and older are currently eligible for the vaccine.
Dr. Adam Lauring, an associate professor of infectious disease and microbiology at the University of Michigan, said the variant could have the potential to lead to larger outbreaks than previously seen in the pandemic as protocols for controlling the spread in prison institutions. is not strict. .
“We have less room for error, or less room for incomplete measures or compliance,” he said. “So masks still work, but we have to make sure people have masks and that they fit well. We have to do everything we can to maintain distance, which is obviously one of the big challenges in a prison.”
More: 90 cases of COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 were reported in the prison in Michigan
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An employee of Bellamy Creek was the first person in the state prison system to be confirmed to have had the variant on Feb. 8. MDOC then started the tests daily. Prisoners and staff are tested daily with a quick test. If a rapid test result returns positive, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is taken and sent to a laboratory for sequencing for the variant.
The daily test program includes some inmates and staff at the Duane Waters Health Center in Jackson and Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township. Before the variant was detected in Bellamy Creek, some inmates with comorbidities tested positive for COVID-19 MDOC transferred from the prison in Ionia to the facilities in case they should develop severe symptoms.
Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said Wednesday that no cases of the variant have been confirmed in Duane Waters, Macomb or any other facility.
In Bellamy Creek, 705 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, and 332 of those cases were active as of Tuesday. One prisoner is dead.
According to MDOC, 122 staff members at the plant tested positive for COVID-19.
The prison houses 1,613 inmates and employs 425 people.
Gautz said all Bellamy Creek employees wear full NOS masks, gowns, gloves – and are instructed to work in one unit of the jail for the foreseeable future. The facility restricted the movements of prisoners, who provided cloth masks. Prisoners who tested positive for COVID-19 and their close contact are housed separately in designated areas of residential units, Gautz said.
Tiffany Alexander’s husband is locked up in Bellamy Creek and said the increase in his cell, with fewer opportunities to shower and call home, was difficult for him. He complained to her that he was not getting enough soap.
Alexander, 32, who lives in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, said her husband contracted COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic and his daily tests were negative.
“My concern is that we have a 9-month-old he’s never met. And with everything like that, will he ever meet?” she said, her voice backwards. “It’s my concern. Is he going to come home or not? ‘
Gautz said the department reviewed information on symptoms among inmates with the variant on Wednesday and said he was not aware of anyone with B.1.1.7 being admitted to the hospital.
Across the state, active COVID-19 cases among MDOC inmates are lower than late last year, when there were as many as 7,700 active infections at one point in December. As of Tuesday, MDOC reported 930 active cases.
Overall, 25,039 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 and 138 died.
According to MDOC, 3,567 people across the country tested positive. Four are dead.
In the larger community, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have declined since November. Health experts say it is too early to know whether the B.1.1.7 variant will become the dominant strain in Michigan and increase the number of cases.
Apart from Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, no cases of the variant have been confirmed in the larger community in Ionia County, where the prison is located. Cases have been identified in Calhoun, Charlevoix, Clinton, Eaton, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Sanilac, St. Louis. Clair, Van Buren, Washtenaw and Wayne, as well as in the city of Detroit.
Angie Jackson addresses the challenges of former citizens as a corps member with Report for America. Her work is supported by The GroundTruth Project and the Hudson-Webber Foundation. Click here to make a tax deductible contribution to supports her work. Become a Free Press subscriber.
Contact Angie: [email protected]; 313-222-1850. Follow her on Twitter: @ AngieJackson23