YORK COUNTY, Pa. — York County Commissioners are providing a glimpse into how the prison handles COVID-19 cases after the prison had 20 new COVID-19 cases in just two days.
"It's concerning, but can I say it was unexpected? No," said Doug Hoke, who is a York County Commissioner and President of the Prison Board.
20 new cases brings the total number of positive cases at the prison from April until now to 189, Hoke said during a press conference Friday afternoon.
The prison houses 1,306 inmates, including ICE detainees, which means currently, roughly 1.5% of the inmate population is COVID-19 positive.
"Of the inmates that have tested positive, what we can share with you, is two of them have been hospitalized. One has been released and is doing well, at this juncture," commented Julie Wheeler, who is also a county commissioner.
The increase in cases over the past two days is not surprising to Hoke who attributes the increase to the increased turnaround of inmates seen by the prison, compared to other state penitentiaries.
"When an inmate arrives at our facility they come right off the street with potentially an undiagnosed or untreated condition," explained Hoke.
Hoke says increased testing has also upped the COVID-19 positive rate. To date, he says the prison has administered 1,463 COVID-19 tests.
"It's a cycle of testing, isolation, quarantine, repeat testing and just repeating that cycle consistently until you get control of the outbreak," explained Dr. Matt Howie, during the press conference.
Howie is director of the York City Health Bureau and chief health strategist for York County.
To further control the outbreak, county leaders said the prison has created three units for inmates: A COVID-19 positive unit, a unit for suspected cases, and a COVID-19 negative unit. They would not release how many inmates are in each currently, as they said that would be a violation of HIPPA. They also did not provide a specific number of employees who have tested positive; they said the number is under 10 of more than 500 people who work at the prison.
"Having these units and isolating and quarantining people, I think it's the right move, and we're protecting staff and inmates," added Hoke.
Currently, no visitors are allowed inside the prison; commissioners say more iPads have been purchased so inmates can communicate with their loved ones in the meantime.