The majority of the inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California have been infected with coronavirus over the last two weeks, according to numbers from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
San Quentin currently has 1,021 inmates who've tested positive for coronavirus, and 978 of those cases were diagnosed in the last 14 days. Additionally, 30 staff members at the prison have also tested positive for coronavirus. The prison hold 3,507 inmates.
The prison accounts for nearly 40% of all coronavirus cases in the state's prison system's 2,573 confirmed cases.
"We are closely monitoring and quickly responding to positive cases of COVID-19 in state prisons, including at San Quentin," CDCR Press Secretary Dana Simas said in a statement to SFist. "Additionally, we are working closely with California Correctional Health Care Services (court-appointed Federal Receiver) as well as public health agencies and stakeholders for the safety and security of our incarcerated population, staff, and communities."
According to SFist, a death row inmate who refused to be tested coronavirus died last week and tested positive for the disease post-mortem.
The data showed the California Institute for Men at Chino has the second-highest number of inmates at 509, including 64 who contracted the virus in the last two weeks. Among that group, 16 inmates died of the disease.