As of June 2nd, CDCR facilities have reported 2,395 COVID-19 cases and have tested 16,170 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, in Chino, San Bernardino County, has reported 672 confirmed cases and has tested 3,386 individuals. 10 people have died of COVID-19 in CIM. No deaths have been reported at other CDCR facilities.
Chuckawalla State Prison (CVSP), in Blythe, Riverside County, has reported 816 cases, nearly 150 additional cases since Monday. On Friday, the confirmed cases count was 186, which marks a 338.7% increase over a 4-day period. CVSP leads in the confirmed cases count across the CDCR system. However, the facility has only tested 1,217 individuals, making their positive test rate 67.05%, far below the 10% benchmark recommended by the WHO.
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 195 and 104 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
