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More inmate cases reported at HCC; 700 results pending

HUTTONSVILLE — A Randolph County official said Tuesday there are now 70 inmate cases of COVID-19 at Huttonsville Correctional Center, after testing was ramped up at the facility on the orders of Gov. Jim Justice.

“We had our first cases break out in our correctional facilities,” Justice said during a coronavirus briefing Tuesday morning. “At Huttonsville, we were trying to limit the testing to a certain (cell) block in which the prisoners were intermingling with one another. We tested the whole block. I told my people on Friday … that’s not good enough and we were going to test everybody in the facility.”

Last week, after testing one cell block and staff, HCC was reporting 35 total cases, including 27 inmates and eight employees.

“We have now tested everyone in the facility,” Justice said Tuesday.

At the time of the 10:30 a.m. press briefing, Justice reported 35 new inmate cases of COVID-19 at HCC. Additional cases were reported later on Tuesday during a Randolph County Office of Emergency Management conference call to update members of the county on the ongoing pandemic.

“At this point, we have 70 positive inmates total,” Randolph Elkins Health Department Infectious Disease Nurse Bonnie Woodrum said. “They are quarantined … and there’s a little more than 700 tests (that are) yet to be run, so we don’t have the total numbers yet.”

The testing was completed on Monday and Justice said the numbers are expected to rise once all test results are returned.

“I had to make the decision to go ahead and test everybody,” Justice said. “It was the right thing to do. I think we are ahead of the curve and on top of this … We are trying to take care of these people just as we take care of ourselves. They deserve that.”

Woodrum said that the inmates who tested positive have the same staff working with them all the time and the staff members are working in full protective gear.

Woodrum noted that only the first two of the 70 positive inmate cases showed symptoms of the virus and the other 68 inmates are asymptomatic at this point.

“You can be contagious and not have symptoms and the person that gets it from you might have serious complications, thus the protection that you want to offer to others,” she said Tuesday. “We’re hoping we will have the (remaining) test results back by at least tomorrow afternoon.”

Woodrum assured those taking part in the call that HCC is working diligently to pull extra resources and map the facility to reduce potential exposure and coordinate appropriate isolations.

“They only had one inmate that refused testing and he was someone that was already in isolation so that’s no problem,” she said. “The people in the first unit that tested negative the first time around were retested Monday just to see if any others tested positive so they can be separated.”

Betsy Jividen, commissioner of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, also spoke during Justice’s update on Tuesday.

“We’ve been working in close cooperation and coordination with the governor’s office, with the Bureau of Public Health, with the DHHR, the local health departments and the National Guard,” Jividen said. “We are doing our best as we enter this phase two of where we do have positives in our facilities to be proactive and protect the health of both the inmate population and our staff that is on the front line every day facing the challenges and difficulties in their personal lives and professional lives.”

Woodrum said all of the staff has been tested and there is still only eight staff members who have tested positive.

“The ones that tested negative that have reported exposure or we think that they were exposed are on monitoring and they’re on a list that will be contacted by text,” Woodrum said. “They will self-monitor and have temperature checks twice a day and any symptoms tested.

“Under the guidelines for essential workers, these folks that have been exposed can work with strict precautions and self-monitoring and then, if in fact they develop any slight symptoms, then they are excluded.”

As of Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., there were 209 testing sites in the state and West Virginia has reported a total of 1,854 positive cases of COVID-19, with 74 deaths.

The state Division of Health and Human Resources web site states that there are 82 confirmed cases in Randolph County, 78 of which are active.

The next OEM call for county stakeholders will take place on Monday, June 1 at 1 p.m.

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