Mt. Pleasant prison sees spike in COVID-19 cases

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility saw an uptick in coronavirus cases last week with 74 additional inmates testing positive.

Deputy Warden Marcy Stroud said the facility received results from its weekly tests on Friday, Nov. 25. In addition to inmates who had tested positive the week of Nov. 14, the facility saw about 85 total positive inmates last week. According to the Department of Corrections, as of Tuesday, the number has dropped to 79 positive inmates and 12 positive staff members.

Stroud added the facility did another round of testing on Monday and out of 88 tests, have been notified of six positives. Currently the facility still is waiting for results on 11 more tests.

The deputy warden said it is 'very challenging to isolate a singular point of transmission” and is 'nearly impossible to know where it comes from.” The prison has yet to identify where the outbreak originated.

Stroud added the facility continues to strictly follow mitigation strategies including giving inmates controlled yard time, streamlining movement within facility hallways, cleaning and spraying down living spaces of individuals who have tested positive, conducting thorough contact tracing, isolating positive individuals and quarantining exposed inmates as well as those who are likely to have been exposed.

'We're quarantining to slow the spread - that is more our focus than identifying the point of entry,” she said.

Additionally, the prison is focused on keeping staff safe as well, especially in light of the two recent deaths of department of corrections officers due to COVID-19. Stroud said most staff who test positive are due to exposures from within the facility.

'We're doing screenings, taking temperatures. Everyone is required to wear surgical masks and a shield. That's just walking through the building, let alone a unit that has the virus or may have it,” she said.

In positive and presumptive units, staff are required to wear full personal protective equipment including N95 masks, face shields, gloves and gowns.

'We're being really cautious,” Stroud said.

The deputy warden added the entire corrections department received a large supply of protective gear in the last several months, which has allowed facilities to better protect staff. Stroud said across the department, facilities originally faced a shortage at the beginning of the pandemic in March and were working to conserve resources.

The deputy warden added the facility continues to receive inmates from the Iowa Medical Classification Center Correctional Facility, a decision that comes from the state department. Inmates who come into the facility are put in quarantine and must have two negative tests before transferring to Mt. Pleasant, where they are put into quarantine for an additional 14 days and must test negative twice again to exit quarantine.

'That should not be a reason for the virus to spread. With four negative tests, I don't know how that could be,” she said.

Stroud added that short of locking down the facility, she wasn't sure what more the prison could be doing to mitigate and stop the spread of the virus within its buildings.

'We can't close the doors at the end of the day and all go home. We've compared with other facilities and shared our best ideas with each other on how to best mitigate. I feel like we've had to work really hard to keep it as safe as possible,” she said.