Prison sees huge uptick in illnesses
The origin of an unprecedented surge of hundreds of cases of COVID-19 at the Sierra Conservation Center state prison near Jamestown is unknown at this time, an SCC spokesperson told The Union Democrat this week.
As of Wednesday, approximately 15% of the more than 3,000 inmate population was actively infected with COVID-19.
“We are immediately responding to the increase in positive COVID-19 cases at Sierra Conservation Center with coordinated efforts to increase the frequency of testing, conduct contact tracing and implement isolation and quarantine measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” said Ricardo Jauregui, a correctional lieutenant and public information officer at SCC.
According to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation dashboard that charts case rates throughout the state prison system, SCC has had 482 total COVID-19 cases with 458 cases currently active in custody on Wednesday. The dashboard said 457 of those cases are new to the last 14 days. SCC has recorded 22 resolved cases, zero deaths and two releases of active COVID-19 patients.
According to CDCR, 2,208 inmates from a total inmate population of 3,048 (72%) were tested in the last 14 days.
Jauregui said testing of the entire SCC inmate population was conducted for a second time on Dec. 11, 14, and 15, with results pending. He also said 2,137 COVID-19 tests were administered between Dec. 7 and 9. (He described it as 100% of the incarcerated population, though the CDCR website denotes different values.)
The CDCR notes that the percentage-tested metric changes once results are returned.
According to daily updates provided by the county, there were no reported COVID-19 cases specifically identified at SCC for the first nine days of December.
After that, the cases at SCC appear to rise and reached an apex on Tuesday. There were 16 cases announced on Dec. 10, followed by 61 cases for last weekend. An additional 75 cases were announced on Monday, followed by 135 cases on Tuesday and 22 cases on Wednesday.
There have been 31,526 cases throughout the state prison system, with 8,737 that are currently active in custody, 22,041 resolved cases, 531 active case releases and 103 deaths.
A graphic of the growth in cases within CDCR appears to mirror a spike in COVID-19 cases that is rattling the community population of California, as well.
The county’s case rate reported on Tuesday was 45.6%, which Public Health Director Michelle Jachetta said was attributable to the spike at SCC but also to a high level of community transmission.
“We ask the public to continue practicing the preventive measures that we have been sharing: wear a face covering, wash your hands frequently, stay 6 feet apart from others, stay in your bubble as much as possible, and stay home if you’re sick,” she said. “This will help us reduce the spread of the virus and the impact to the health care system, ensuring that those that need care for whatever reason, will continue to have access to that care.”
Inmate cases are not included in county demographics, which as of Tuesday identified 296 active cases.
A public health release noted the
inmate cases are included in total case counts, but the state does not include them when calculating the tier status in California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which remains in the most severe classification, known as the purple tier.
The county is included in the San Joaquin Valley region in another state metric that has prompted a stay-at-home-order for at least three weeks, because the total number of available ICU beds in the region has fallen below 15 percent.
“Public Health works with SCC on any clusters or outbreaks at the prison, not only during COVID, but in regard to other public health issues,” Jachetta said. “During this most recent COVID outbreak, we continue our communications and coordination on their response.”
A New York Times online article “Monitoring the Coronavirus Outbreak in Metro Areas Across the U.S.,” made social media waves in the county this week when “Sonora, CA” appeared second in the United States (just behind Meadville, Pennsylvania, the county seat of Crawford County which has a population of approximately 88,000) where new reported cases were rising the fastest.
According to the New York Times, their metric for growth is population adjusted and measured by change per 100,000 in the difference of the number of cases from the past week to the current week.
On Tuesday, the New York Times recorded “Sonora, CA” with 217 cases a week ago to 622 cases “now” with a change per 100,000 of 743. Sonora had dropped into the eleventh spot by Wednesday with 330 cases a week ago and 536 cases “now,” with a change per 100,000 of 378.
“I have not reviewed the data sources referenced in the article, but imagine that the spike in numbers during that week were attributable primarily to the outbreak at SCC,” Jachetta said.
“Fresno, CA” and “Bakersfield, CA” take up the chart’s 19th and 20th spots, respectively, though the population of Fresno County is just shy of one million and Kern County is just shy of 900,000.
Jauregui said SCC continues to utilize safety protocols and other regulations to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
“SCC is following the mandatory statewide modified program in an effort to limit movement of both staff and the population,” he said. “This includes staggered dining and recreation schedules to allow for physical distancing and disinfecting between use while not mixing housing units, education and rehabilitation materials delivered in the housing units, and only essential transfers” which have mandatory testing procedures.
The incarcerated population has dropped dramatically since before the COVID-19 pandemic. A quarterly report showed the incarcerated population at SCC was 4,396 in January and dropped to 3,024 in September, the last month included in the chart.
Jauregui said the overall CDCR population is at its lowest in 30 years, dropping by almost 23,000 since March. He added that intake from county jail remains suspended at this time.
Mandatory staff testing takes place every week, Jauregui said.
There have been 115 cases of COVID-19 confirmed among staff at SCC, with 23 active cases and 32 in the past 14 days.
Staff are required to wear surgical masks and other forms of personal protective equipment while they are on the job, and they are also temperature screened upon entrance to the facility.
Positive cases of inmates follow guidance from the California Correctional Health Services department, which has isolation and quarantine protocols for cases. Inmates are provided with “cloth facial barriers” and cleaning supplies, Jauregui said.
Though SCC is not considering any early releases for active COVID-19 patient-inmates at this time, Jauregui said, inmates cannot be held past their scheduled release date even if they are still an active case.
Inmates returning to parole supervision are provided hotel rooms and food at no cost for the remainder of their isolation period, a program coordinated through Project Hope, CDCR, the California Office of Emergency Services (CALOES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“All releases wear a cloth face covering upon exiting the institution and are released with five cloth barrier masks,” Jauregui said.
The public health nurse from each institution sends notifications to county health if any released inmates are exposed or positive for COVID-19, he added.
Baseline Conservation Camp at Sierra Conservation Center and seven other conservation camps identified by Gov. Gavin Newsom for depopulation in October were depopulated by Dec. 12.