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Prisons across the state are seeing increasing numbers of inmates and staff members turning up positive for COVID-19 including at SCI Muncy.
Most recent figures reveal the corrections facility in Clinton Township with 210 active COVID-19 inmate cases and 15 employees reporting positive test results.
Across the state, SCI facilities reported 5,545 active COVID-19 inmate cases as well as 190 staff personnel, according to information from the state Department of Corrections website. At a time when coronavirus vaccines are starting to roll out, infection numbers continue to surge across the state and nationally.
Maria Bivens, press secretary for the Department of Corrections, noted the comprehensive plan in place for mitigating COVID-19 in the prison system:
"Prison staff continue to perform enhanced screenings on employees, and those who fail are not permitted access to our facilities. Employees continue to sanitize the facility, and inmates have been separated based upon their negative or positive test results. Vulnerable inmates are tested and medically checked regularly. We continue to test anyone who reports influenza like illnesses and isolate that person until results are received. The affected cohort is also placed on enhanced quarantine pending receipt of test results for the symptomatic inmate. When any inmate tests positive for COVID the affected cohort is placed on enhanced quarantine for 14 days.
"We feed inmates in their cells/on the units (depending on whether they are under quarantine or not). We also keep inmates in small groups/cohorts, so that if one of them does develop symptoms, we are able to keep the impact to just that small group/cohort. Staff and inmates are reminded of the importance of mask wearing, proper hand washing and how to cough/sneeze, etc. All our prisons continue wastewater testing. Officials are working closely with DOC leadership and are following PA Department of Health and CDC guidelines."
She noted that just as infection numbers are rising in the community, they are also rising in the prison system.
"Sadly, we have had 51 inmate deaths with COVID statewide," Bivens stated. "However, the rate of state prison inmate deaths with COVID is lower than Pennsylvania long-term care facilities."
Nine inmates have so far been released from SCI Muncy under the Reprieve of Sentence of Incarceration Program ordered in April by Gov. Tom Wolf.
The program allows for vulnerable individuals who would otherwise be eligible for release within the next 12 months to be transferred to Community Corrections Centers, Community Corrections Facilities or home confinement.
They include inmates at risk based upon age, "anyone with autoimmune disorders, who is pregnant, or who has serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, bone marrow or organ transplantation, severe obesity, kidney disease, liver disease, and cancer, or other medical condition that places them at higher risk for coronavirus, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
All inmates at SCI sites are tested for COVID-19 prior to being released from prison or before being transferred between facilities.
In addition, inmates are tested prior to medical appointments and procedures or during hospitalization. Staff testing is voluntary.