A recent COVID-19 outbreak at the Lycoming County prison has resulted in 104 COVID-19 cases since late January. Currently, the prison has eight active cases, according to Warden Brad Shoemaker.
No inmates have been sent to the hospital or placed on a ventilator, according to Shoemaker.
“The prison has put many safety procedures in place, which are reviewed and modified from time to time based upon medical and governmental guidance,” Shoemaker said.
It is unclear how the first cases got into the prison. Shoemaker said these are the first positive cases recorded within the prison walls and at the pre-release center since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Prison correction officers and other staff members are screened daily when they enter the prison, according to the warden. If they manifest symptoms of the virus, they then are given the COVID-19 test.
Shoemaker added that inmates are “placed in quarantine status for seven days upon commitment and then are COVID tested before entering general population.”
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