Southwest detention center outbreak rises to 22 cases

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Twenty-two people at the South West Detention Center tested positive for COVID-19 in what appears to be the largest jail outbreak.

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Data published on the website of the local health unit showed that the local jail’s case count increased from four on Thursday to 22 on Friday.

“The institution’s staff have adequately handled the outbreak in conjunction with the local public health unit,” said Brent Ross, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Ministry, in an email to Star Friday.

Regardless of vaccination status, Ross wrote, all newly admitted inmates “are screened and screened (with their consent) for COVID-19 and housed in an area separate from the general population for 14 days,” and then held. tests again on the 10th day of quarantine. If an inmate tests positive, they are “brought in contact with droplet and contact precautions and isolated from the rest of the prison population while receiving appropriate medical care.”

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Sources told the Star that the newly admitted inmates were moved from the quarantine area before the end of their first two weeks, and without having been examined. Ross neither confirmed nor denied this claim when asked. It also did not specify whether all the infected people are inmates.

Since the start of the pandemic, the ministry has increased cleanliness measures at Ontario correctional facilities, required temperature controls for staff and visitors, and provided personal protective equipment to staff and masks to inmates “if it’s necessary, “said Ross. Personnel must wear a mask at all times and eye protection when necessary.

The ministry has its own supply of COVID-19 vaccines and makes them available to eligible inmates on an ongoing basis.

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“Obviously, we are concerned about COVID cases in any congregated setting, including correctional institutions,” Acting Medical Health Officer Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said Thursday. “We recognize that correctional institutions have a unique set of challenges related to organizing public health management plans.”

When asked for an update on the outbreak on Friday, the health unit declined to comment until a press conference scheduled for Monday.

Several outbreaks have been reported in prison during the pandemic. One declared on April 23 this year was rescinded after 56 days and involved approximately 16 infected staff members and inmates.

According to an online provincial database, 15 inmates at the South West Detention Center, located at the 8th Concession in Windsor, had active COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday. Fifty-one inmate cases dating back to the beginning of the pandemic are considered resolved.

Outbreaks are terminated when two weeks pass without additional associated COVID-19 infections.

Katrina Digiancinto, president of OPSEU Local 135 that represents prison officials, could not be reached for comment.

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