Updated at 6:55 p.m.
Three incarcerated people tested positive for Covid-19 at St. Albans and St. Johnsbury facilities earlier this week, and the St. Albans facility has since been on lockdown, according to a Vermont Department of Corrections press release.
Intake testing found two cases at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans on Monday and one case at Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury on Tuesday. They are all new arrivals who are now in intake quarantine.
The St. Albans facility was placed on full lockdown after contact tracing identified two staff members as close contacts. Neither staff member was placed in quarantine because both are fully vaccinated and wore personal protective equipment.
No incarcerated individuals were identified as close contacts, the release stated.
The facility will remain on lockdown until the results of previously scheduled, staff-wide surveillance testing conducted Tuesday are returned.
Contact tracing is still underway at the Northeast Correctional Complex, where one case was identified late Tuesday afternoon.
These are the first positive cases at Northwest State Correctional Facility and Northeast Correctional Complex since March 3 and May 29 respectively.
Each Vermont Department of Corrections facility conducts surveillance testing every six weeks, and all incarcerated individuals were last tested at Northwest State Correctional Facility July 21 and at Northeast Correctional Complex Aug. 11 with no positive tests, the release stated.
“There’s not a single day of the week when the Vermont Department of Corrections is not laser focused on mitigating the spread of COVID to our correctional facilities and inside of our correctional facilities,” said Rachel Feldman, principal assistant to the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections.
The Vermont Department of Corrections Office of Constituency Services encourages families and friends of incarcerated individuals to reach out with questions through their online portal. The department also regularly updates its Covid-19 information page with case numbers.
