As of June 1st, CDCR facilities have reported 2,237 COVID-19 cases and have tested 15,647 individuals. On Friday, the confirmed cases count was 1,319, nearly half of today’s count. The sudden spike in cases raises alarms about the disease spreading unprecedentedly in CA prisons.
California Institute for Men (CIM), located in Chino, San Bernardino County, reported one additional death today, making the death toll 10. The number of deaths at CIM stayed at 9 for over a week. The facility has 662 confirmed cases and has tested 3,386 individuals.
Chuckawalla State Prison (CVSP), in Blythe, Riverside County, has reported 671 confirmed cases. On Friday, the confirmed cases count was 186, which marks a 260% increase over a 2-day period. CVSP leads in the confirmed cases count across CDCR. However, the facility has only tested 912 individuals, making their positive testing rate 73.5%, far below the 10% benchmark recommended by the WHO.
As of May 19th, Avenal State Prison (ASP) had reported zero positive cases. Within 2 weeks, this number has increased to 598. ASP’s testing count has increased from 21 to 1,161 during this period. However, the percentage of positive tests is 51.5%, which is still far from the 10% benchmark for positive test rates.
The surge in positive cases and lack of testing raises questions about CDCR’s efforts to contain and control the spread of COVID-19. The evidence continuously suggests that the disease is going unidentified and undetected in CA prisons and more efforts need to be taken to control the numbers.
Despite not reporting any positive cases, Folsom State Prison (FSP) in Represa and Sacramento State Prison (SAC) in Folsom, both in Sacramento County, have continued to test individuals for the virus. They have tested 176 and 103 individuals respectively.
There are zero confirmed cases in CDCR facilities located in Marin County, Solano County, Sacramento County, Amador County & San Joaquin County. Following patterns in Sacramento County, facilities in these five counties are continuing to test for the virus.
Note: The definition of tested aligns with that prescribed by Johns Hopkins University. Patients are considered to be tested only when the test result is returned, i.e. the testing count reported by a facility includes the total number of tests for which results have returned, and not the total number of tests administered.
Source: The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) reports COVID-19 information through a daily dashboard that is accessible here – https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/.
Compiled and written by Aparna Komarla
