Prison officer dies from COVID-19
WEST CHESTER » A corrections officer at Chester County Prison who was among those staff members to have first contracted the COVID-19 disease early this month has died, a county spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
The officer, a 58-year-old Delaware County resident who had been hospitalized since testing positive for the disease, died Thursday in Delaware County, Public Information Officer Rebecca Brain said in a brief interview.
Brain said the county was not releasing the man’s name at the request of his family. No other details were given.
“We were extremely saddened to receive the news that one of our own staff, a Chester County Prison corrections officer, had passed due to COVID-19, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife and family,” the three county commissioners — Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline — said in a statement.
According to figures from the prison, 10 inmates at the facility in Pocopson currently have tested positive for COVID-19; the first positive test on an inmate came in early April. The inmates had all been on the same two cell blocks, and are displaying mild symptoms of the disease, the county said last week. Eight staff members tested positive.
All are being housed in the prison’s Medical Unit, including one inmate who was briefly hospitalized outside the prison walls after testing positive for the virus, which has afflicted more than 29,000 Pennsylvanians and killed 756 — 30 of them county residents, according to state and county Health Department statistics.
“Prison officials have been concerned about the potential impact of the coronavirus in a setting like this since before the first case came to the United States, and they have worked with many partners to prepare for it,” Brain said in a statement last week.
“The warden and his team are focused on controlling the spread, providing medical attention to those who need it — just as they always would in any medical situation, and have prepared the prison to cope with potential impact of COVID-19.
The entire prison is quarantined. “This means that inmates within the majority of (cell) blocks cannot leave their respective block unless absolutely necessary,” she said in an email. “If an inmate must leave the block, they are given protective equipment including a mask and gown.”
On Friday, the state Health Department announced that there had been 739 residents of the county who tested positive for COVID-19, the disease that results from infection by the novel coronavirus. There were 3,606 negative tests, and 30 deaths.
The county continues to have fewer number of cases and deaths than surrounding counties. In Berks County, there are 1,537 positive cases and 34, deaths, according to the state Health Department. In Bucks County, there are 1,524 positive cases and 64 deaths; in Delaware County, there are 2,226 cases and 73 deaths; in Lancaster County, there are 1.030 cases and 35 deaths; in Montgomery County, 2,684 cases and 97 deaths; and in Philadelphia, there are 8,138 cases and 136 deaths.
Earlier in April, the state Health Department was reporting the results of more than 7,000 coronavirus tests per day. For each of the last three days, health officials have announced the results of fewer than 4,000 tests.
State health officials said they want to do more testing but haven’t been able to get the necessary supplies. A mass testing site in Philadelphia has also shut down.
“We’ve had great difficulty accessing the reagents and chemicals,” the state health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said Thursday. “We’d like to do much more widespread testing.”
Fewer people might be showing up to get tested, as well, health department spokesman Nate Wardle said.