An Ohio state prison is now considered a COVID-19 hotspot after 73% of its inmates tested positive for the disease, reports NPR.
An aggressive testing program for the inmates revealed at least 1,828 confirmed cases of infection.
"Because we are testing everyone — including those who are not showing symptoms — we are getting positive test results on individuals who otherwise would have never been tested because they were asymptomatic," the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said in a statement per NPR.
The numbers at the Marion facility are the highest among Ohio's state prison inmates. Overall, 2,400 inmates have tested positive, along with 244 staff members. The numbers may be climbing again, however, as a Pickaway County prison began its mass testing Sunday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ohio reported 13,725 cases of coronavirus statewide, meaning the prison system accounts for more than 20% of the cases in the state.
Ohio's prison totals are also the highest being reported nationwide, but no other state has tested as many prisoners. New York State, for example, has reported just over 1,000 coronavirus cases in the state with 794 of those being among staff workers.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently recommended 300 of 49,000 inmates in Ohio's prison system be released because of coronavirus. The Ohio National Guard has been deployed to bolster operations at the prisons in Marion and Pickaway counties.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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