May
19, 2020
W.Va.
Corrections to focus COVID-19 testing at Huttonsville
CHARLESTON,
W.Va. – The state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation has
enlisted the W.Va. National Guard and the Bureau for Public Health to increase COVID-19
testing at the Huttonsville Correctional Center, where an inmate was confirmed
positive overnight.
The 62-year-old male is in good condition in
medical isolation. His is the first confirmed case among inmates at DCR
facilities. West Virginia confirmed its first COVID-19 case statewide on March
17.
The positive inmate had exhibited
symptoms, triggering testing under DCR’s response plan for COVID-19. Huttonsville
will now expand this testing, starting with the inmate’s now-quarantined
housing unit. The Bureau for Public Health and DCR’s medical provider, Wexford
Health Sources, will provide the necessary equipment and personnel. The
National Guard will assist making testing available to all officers and staff. The
stepped-up testing is slated to begin Wednesday.
The case is believed unrelated to that of
a temporary, part-time employee at the facility who tested positive over the
weekend. That employee, who is quarantined at home and in good condition, had
supervised three other inmates from a separate housing unit during his last
shift there May 14 in the recreation yard. Those three inmates have since
tested negative.
Huttonsville and all other DCR facilities have
followed the agency’s response plan throughout the pandemic. Embracing key CDC
recommendations, and affirmed by a judicial review, the policy’s preventative
and precautionary measures include restricted movement within facilities to
avoid contact between housing units; curtailed inter-facility movement and
transports; sanitization of eating and gathering areas after each use; more
frequent cleaning of high-touch areas; and isolation and quarantine protocols
both for new arrivals and for inmates who exhibit symptoms.
Huttonsville and all other DCR facilities each
also have quantities of personal protective equipment, including enough cloth
protective face coverings for every inmate and staff member. All staff are
required to wear masks, and that has been extended to Huttonsville’s inmates as
well.
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