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A second Department of Corrections staff person has tested positive for COVID-19. This staffer works at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton.
Last week, the department announced that a corrections staff member at the Newport prison had tested positive for the coronavirus, and in that case, officials said that person did not have contact with inmates.
In the latest case, the corrections department said in a statement Wednesday evening that the staff person, who had “limited” contact with inmates, was last in the facility on Wednesday, March 25, and did not have symptoms at that time.
The department, according to the statement, with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Vermont Department of Health is working to identify contacts that the staff member had at the facility.
“Guidance recommends that people who came into contact within 48 hours of showing symptoms should be quarantined,” the statement read. “There was no contact within the facility in the 48-hour window, as the staff did not exhibit symptoms until March 29 and has not been in the facility since March 25.”
The statement said that citing privacy reasons the staff member would not release information that could identify the staff member. The release did not say what specific position the staff member held in the facility.
“My concern remains with the health and safety of our staff and the people in our care,” Interim Corrections Commissioner Jim Baker said in the statement. “We are taking every effort to limit exposure.”
The corrections department, according to the statement, is doing a “deep cleaning” in the areas where that staff member worked and stressing to inmates the importance of handwashing and hygiene.
Also, the statement said, all staff entering the facility are screened for COVID-19 symptoms, including a fever, and are sent home if they have those symptoms.
Steve Howard, the executive director of the Vermont States Employees’ Association, said Wednesday evening he hadn’t yet been aware that a staff member at the Swanton facility had tested positive COVID-19.
He talked about the need to “step up” the use of personal protective equipment in the facilities.
“Now that it’s two different facilities, it’s going to spread and we’re going to have to do everything we can to prevent that,” Howard said. “I know they are stockpiling that stuff but we want to make that equipment as available as possible.”
The Northwest State Correctional Facility has staff of 123 and an inmate population of 197.
No Vermont inmate has tested positive for COVID-19. The Vermont inmate population is currently at 1,463 prisoners, a drop from 1,642 on March 13.
