The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says none of the inmates they have recently tested for COVID-19 have been positive.
In a Tuesday media release, the NDCS said seven inmates have tested positive since the start of the outbreak, but since they've recently opened up testing to all inmates, none have come back positive.
Of 400 men and women tested since the onset of the coronavirus only seven individuals within the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services have been positive. All seven of those individuals have recovered. The 400 individuals include those housed at the Community Corrections Center—Omaha, Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility, Omaha Correctional Center, Community Corrections Center—Lincoln and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women, who have been tested since last week as part of TestNebraska.
NDCS Director Scott R. Frakes says the seven inmates who have tested positive so far represent 1.8% of the total number of people tested throughout the state's 10 facilities. “Testing in our remaining facilities will continue through the end of the month.”
Frakes says when TestNebraska expanded to allow all Nebraskans to be tested regardless of symptoms, inmates were also included. “Consistent with the community access to COVID-19 testing through TestNebraska, we offered testing to the incarcerated population. Individuals can opt to undergo testing or not. So far, 230 individuals have requested to take part in the expanded testing program. None of those tests have come back positive.”
Director Frakes says the results affirmed the agency’s decision early-on to adopt measures designed to prevent transmission of the virus. “Certainly, one of those things was the decision to shut down visitation. We acknowledge that stopping face-to-face interactions with family members has been a hardship. It is unknown at this time when we will re-initiate the visitation program. We are considering what parameters will need to be in place, in order to make it safe for our inmate population and those who are coming in from the community.”
Dir. Frakes noted the agency is taking a cautionary, step-by-step approach to resuming normal operations. “The last thing we want to do is re-launch activities, furloughs, volunteer programs and other initiatives, which could result in a surge of COVID-19 cases. But, we continue to have discussions with our wardens daily and are working toward re-instituting some of the things that we had to shut down previously.”
NDCS says measures implemented early on with inmates and team members will be part of the new normal going forward. That includes wearing of masks, taking temperatures of anyone entering an NDCS building, assessing symptoms, providing free bars of soap to inmates and hand sanitizer to staff members.