The governor has confirmed there’s a coronavirus outbreak at the state prison in Fort Dodge. Nearly 500 inmates and staff have been tested for COVID-19 and today, prison officials report 61 inmates and two staff members have the virus.
Governor Reynolds says 600 inmates will be tested tomorrow and another 100 staff members will undergo testing Thursday. “It’s just incredibly important for us to get in there, do the testing so we can understand the scope and, to those who’ve been exposed, do the isolation and really take the measures that we need to take to prevent it from spreading throughout the facility,” Reynolds said during a news conference late this morning.
There are 1101 prisoners in the facility today. Last Thursday, just ONE inmate and two staff members had confirmed cases of COVID, so there’s been a dramatic increase in the past five days.