38 positive for coronavirus in NYC jails, including Rikers
At least 38 people have tested positive for coronavirus in NEW YORK jails, including at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, the board that oversees the city's jail system said Saturday.
In a letter to criminal justice leaders, Board of Correction interim chairwoman Jacqueline Sherman wrote that at least 58 other persons were currently being monitored in contagious disease and quarantine units.
"Chances are these people have been around in a huge selection of housing areas and common areas over recent weeks and also have been in close connection with many other people in custody and staff," Sherman warned, predicting a sharp rise in the quantity of infections.
"The very best path forward to protecting the city of men and women housed and employed in the jails is to rapidly reduce the number of individuals housed and working in them."
Previously six days, she wrote, the board learned that at least 12 Department of Correction employees, five Correctional Health Services employees, and 21 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
The city's jail agency and its own city-run healthcare provider didn't react to messages seeking touch upon the letter. On Friday, the city's Department of Corrections said just one single inmate had been diagnosed with coronavirus, along with seven jail workers.
New York has constantly downplayed the amount of infections, The Associated Press has found in conversations with current and former inmates.
More than 2.2 million persons are incarcerated in the United States - more than anywhere in the world - and there are growing fears an outbreak could spread rapidly through a vast network of federal and state prisons, county jails and detention centers.
It's a tightly packed, fluid population that's already grappling with high rates of health problems and, in terms of older people and the infirm, elevated risks of serious complications. With limited capacity nationally to check for COVID-19, men and women inside worry that they are last in line when showing flu-like symptoms, and therefore some could be infected without knowing it.
The first positive tests from inside prisons and jails started tricking out just over a week ago, with significantly less than two dozen officers and staff infected in other facilities from California and Michigan to Pennsylvania.
For most people, the brand new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as for example fever and cough. For a few, especially older adults and persons with existing health issues, it can cause more extreme illness, including pneumonia, and even death.
The vast majority of individuals get over the virus. In line with the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about fourteen days, while people that have more severe cases may take three to six weeks to recover.
