Items

• 2020-07-13

  A CLOSER LOOK: COVID-19 prison data as of 7/13

  There was recently a spike in the number of covid cases in Arkansas State Prison facilities. Officials suggest this may be due to early testing. They point to the fact that if a person has been exposed recently and is tested right away they may not have enough of a viral load to test positive for the virus even though they are carrying it. This causes false negatives and results in those people not being isolated. The officials also point to supply chain issues preventing them from testing as much as they would like.
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  2020-05-14

  Texas is spending $45 million on new coronavirus tests that prisoners are administering to themselves

  "The state purchased 300,000 oral swab tests from a months-old California company. So far, only highly-infected prisons are using them for mass testing." The test has a 10% rate of false negatives. This test was given a rapid approval by the FDA and they have said anyone with symptoms and a negative test should be retested. The worry is without accurate testing of most inmates that the virus will spread widely and quickly due to unsanitary and cramped conditions.
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  2020-06-24

  Ann Wallace's First Person Account of Having COVID-19

  Ann Wallace, a college professor at Jersey City College, contracted COVID-19 and writes that, despite having a "mild case," she has yet to recover after several months. She discusses the stigma of contracting the virus, and the fact that people don't believe that she is still sick.