Housing units at two Nebraska prisons are being put into a combination of quarantine and medical isolation due a number of inmates testing positive for COVID-19.
On Friday, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced that nearly 120 inmates at the Lincoln Correctional Center were tested this week, after a single inmate tested positive for COVID-19. NDCS says just over half of the results came back positive.
They also say a majority of tests conducted on 90 inmates at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution were also positive for COVID-19. Prison leaders say additional testing will be provided to inmates living in the same housing area in the coming days.
“Testing allows us to identify and manage those who are positive, those who are negative and those who should be quarantined due to close contact,” explained NDCS Director Scott R. Frakes. “Keeping individuals grouped together will help limit the spread of the virus to other parts of those facilities.” Dir. Frakes noted that those who have tested positive have been largely asymptomatic.
He says while they are in medical isolation and quarantine, inmates will be checked regularly by NDCS medical staff. “The doctors and nurses assigned to each of our facilities have been done a remarkable job of administering tests, checking vitals, and tracking patients. As the agency has done in other facilities that have experienced outbreaks, we will take all necessary precautions to manage the virus in LCC and TSCI.”
NDCS says a facility-wide quarantine has been extended at the Work Ethic Camp in McCook this week, after an inmate there tested positive.
Prison leaders say a section of a housing unit at the Nebraska State Penitentiary will return to normal operations next week following medical isolation and the last housing unit in quarantine at the Community Corrections Center-Lincoln resumed normal operations on Friday. “We continue to follow the CDC guidelines, and improve our COVID management response with lessons learned from each outbreak,” said Dir. Frakes. “Our combined efforts have led to few hospitalizations for COVID related symptoms, and relatively fast resolution of each outbreak.”