{"id":32855,"date":"2020-05-21T01:35:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T06:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=32855"},"modified":"2020-05-21T17:28:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T22:28:11","slug":"as-coronavirus-spreads-oklahomas-largest-jails-could-increase-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/05\/21\/as-coronavirus-spreads-oklahomas-largest-jails-could-increase-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"As coronavirus spreads, Oklahoma&#8217;s largest jails could increase testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32867\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-32867\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-1920x1440.jpg\" alt=\"White barred jail cell\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-672x504.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-632x474.jpg 632w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2020\/05\/27680527941_62e7d1acc8_b-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Jobs For Felons Hub<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/144110575@N07\/27680527941\/in\/photolist-Jb2WzK-26BQDth-KbPvjZ-8hbbe-Jb2XZi-6qoBmK-TzRzyy-YC1KK1-6frUGm-5Eo9bc-pz1jrM-2a5bh71-27oAheG-8VweWA-qTZaxu-2a9qsa4-9Tr49J-qiA2zq-2a9qhjT-9utQL3-2gcSaDG-7ZGDbN-7PJrPM-4pWZyF-pDBCvr-QKpGgM-2fm4oe-2a9qqQa-5FxEcG-6sX7Vo-7ZGH2q-38wBWq-29w2Lio-7ZGDmw-uPcygt-QjcR2S-7ZGDEY-RNtuK4-dKdQAi-dKdRi6-2a9qq1K-GeTcnM-kdjivX-zF9gR-fATMG-5Dv4Gw-vVCxVW-4q246j-cFUpLq-xFEi52&quot;\">Jobs For Felons Hub<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/13aba2f2-8ce8-4b9d-8749-8eb98b4d9160?dark=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p><p>Staff inside the Comanche County Detention Center knew they had a problem when the number of prisoners infected with Covid-19 reached 18 in early May.<\/p><p>The more prisoners they tested, the more positive results came back until they\u2019d hit more than 100 infections in about 10 days. The jail\u2019s administrator, William Hobbs, says most of the prisoners showed no symptoms. None were hospitalized.<\/p><p>One staff member who tested positive and also struggled with preexisting health conditions was sent to the hospital, but Hobbs said they\u2019re recovering. Seven of his staff who tested positive were being monitored at home earlier this week.<\/p><p>When it was clear the novel coronavirus might have spread to multiple parts of the facility, Hobbs said the Oklahoma State Department of Health provided enough Covid-19 tests to check everyone inside the overcrowded jail. Most of the people who tested positive didn\u2019t have any symptoms.<\/p><p>The state ordered Hobbs to stop accepting new prisoners and sent a team of its own corrections professionals to help manage the outbreak.<\/p><p>\u201cTheir mission here is to assess the situation with the Covid-19 and try to get the inmates (who are) positive in one area and the negatives in another,\u201d Hobbs said.<\/p><p>Separating sick from healthy prisoners is especially difficult. In early May, the jail held 345 prisoners with a capacity of 283.<\/p><p>\u201cThe other side of that is they could be negative today and positive two days from now. Just cause you\u2019re negative don\u2019t mean you\u2019re clear,\u201d Hobbs said.<\/p>\n<h3>Mass infections common in lockups<\/h3><p>Snowballing infection rates have become a common story inside U.S. jails and prisons during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p><p>In March, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/08\/us\/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html\">the Cook County jail in Chicago<\/a>\u00a0only had two prisoners who tested positive. In a little over two weeks infections inside the jail grew to more than 350 people.<\/p><p>Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarshallproject.org\/2020\/05\/01\/a-state-by-state-look-at-coronavirus-in-prisons\">multiple examples across the country of mass Covid-19 testing<\/a>\u00a0uncovering widespread infection in jails and prisons, state prisons and many county jails still follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-nCoV\/hcp\/clinical-criteria.html\">guidelines which prioritize testing<\/a>\u00a0for prisoners who show symptoms of the disease.<\/p>\n<h3>Tulsa sheriff looks for more testing<\/h3><p>Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado isn\u2019t sure why his jail \u2013 which is much larger than Comanche County\u2019s \u2013 hasn\u2019t found any sick prisoners.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re just finding out how this thing works and why it\u2019s infecting certain places and not others,\u201d Regalado said.<\/p><p>The sheriff says he and his staff responded to Covid-19 almost as soon as they heard it had entered the United States. He believes they\u2019ve done everything they can to prevent the virus from spreading in the jail.<\/p><p>Even though none of his prisoners have tested positive, he says it\u2019s possible he could have sick people who just aren\u2019t showing symptoms.<\/p><p>He wants to make sure the virus isn\u2019t in the jail. To do that, he\u2019s going beyond the CDC guidelines. The jail has partnered with Oklahoma State University\u2019s medical center in Tulsa to expand testing. First, they\u2019re trying to test every new prisoner who enters the jail.<\/p><p>\u201cAgain, the hope is that we are able to get through the entire inmate population to give us at least a clear look in regards to whether or not we truly are infection free within the jail,\u201d Regalado said.<\/p><p>Getting tests to all of the more than 1,000 people in the jail is going to be a challenge. So far they\u2019ve tested at least 85 prisoners.<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s a lofty goal considering (the population) is ever changing and we were also told that\u2019s provided the tests remain available,\u201d Regalado said.<\/p><p>Oklahoma County is also struggling with the question of who to test in its jail. It has the largest prisoner population of all the counties in the state.<\/p><p>Oklahoma County Commissioner Carrie Blumert says she would like to see more testing. Jails are among the places the CDC identified as especially vulnerable to coronavirus.<\/p><p>\u201cI would compare it to a cruise ship you wouldn\u2019t choose to be on,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>Currently the Oklahoma County Sheriff\u2019s Office is following the CDC\u2019s guidelines for quarantining and testing prisoners. They haven\u2019t found any positive cases.<\/p>\n<h3>CARES funding could help with testing<\/h3><p>Blumert also wants to at least start testing every new person booked into the jail.<\/p><p>\u201cI think it\u2019s in our best interest and the person being booked in \u2013 it\u2019s in their best interest,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>If that could be accomplished, she\u2019d want to try to test every person next.<\/p><p>Blumert hasn\u2019t discussed this with the other county commissioners yet, but she thinks it\u2019s possible to secure more tests through the jail\u2019s medical contractor or through the Oklahoma City County Health Department.<\/p><p>\u201cIf there was any cost associated with it &#8230; I think that is a very legitimate reason to use our CARES dollars to pay for testing for new detainees,\u201d Blumert said.<\/p><p>The federal government gave <a href=\"https:\/\/oklahoman.com\/article\/5661173\/oklahoma-county-receives-47-million-from-cares-act\">$47 million to Oklahoma County for its Covid-19 response<\/a>.<\/p><p>A spokesperson for the Oklahoma City County Health Department says the agency is happy to help Oklahoma County expand jail testing.<\/p><p>Before the health department could step in it would need a formal request from the county commissioners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An outbreak of Covid-19 in the Comanche County\u00a0jail underscores how vulnerable jail populations are to the disease. Officials in the state&#8217;s two largest counties are considering increasing testing in their jails to make sure they don&#8217;t have their own outbreak. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":32867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"page-noFeature.php","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1061,1258,1223,1238,1055,1260,1145,1259],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32855"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32871,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32855\/revisions\/32871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}