KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said the outbreak shows why it is important to vaccinate inmates early.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Public health officials in Kansas are trying to determine whether a coronavirus variant is fueling a new outbreak at a minimum-security state prison with inmates who regularly work in surrounding communities. Democratic Gov.
Laura Kelly said during a Zoom call Wednesday with top leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature that there had been no COVID-19 cases at the Winfield Correctional Facility in the two weeks leading up to a recent outbreak that sickened dozens. She says the state is doing genomic testing to determine whether the outbreak has been caused by recent variants of the virus. Meanwhile, Kansas has seen an overall drop in its average number of new cases and deaths.
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WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — Public health officials are trying to determine whether a coronavirus variant is fueling a new outbreak at a Kansas prison.
Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said there had been no cases for weeks at Winfield Correctional Facility before a “whole cluster of cases broke out.”
“We did the epidemiologic tracking and found it came in through the community through the food service workers, and then went from there to some other places.,” Norman said Tuesday during a virtual media briefing hosted by the University of Kansas Health System. “But it was very fast spread, and we’re going to test every one of those positive individuals with genomic sequencing.”
The Kansas Department of Corrections reported that Winfield’s prison currently had eight staff cases and 69 inmates cases as of Monday. Statewide, there have been 5,628 inmates and 1,174 staff members infected since the pandemic began.
Norman said the outbreak shows why it is important to vaccinate inmates early. They are part of the second phase, along with those over the age of 65 and essential workers.
But that has been controversial, with the Kansas Republican Party tweeting earlier this month: “Prioritize law-abiding Kansans first!”
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