COVID Outbreak Reported In New Hampshire's Largest Jail
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The largest county correctional facility in New Hampshire is experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19.
New Hampshire Public Radio reports that recently released state data shows there are 120 cases within the Hillsborough County jail, plus six cases among staff. The jail in Manchester housed about 250 people last month. Most are now quarantining.
Last winter, 108 incarcerated people and about 40 staff tested positive there. The jail superintendent said the COVID vaccine was offered a few weeks ago, but only a dozen people got it.
The number of state and federal prisoners in the United States testing positive for the coronavirus nationwide has been much higher than the general population. Last year, one in every five state and federal prisoners in the United States tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half of prisoners have been infected, according to data collected by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project.
In Maine, a county declared an emergency at its jail due to a COVID outbreak and a lack of corrections officers earlier this month. The Cumberland County Jail declared an emergency at the jail for the first time in its history, the Portland Press Herald reported.
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