Second Delaware inmate and first probation officer test positive for coronavirus

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Another inmate at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center along with a probation and parole officer tested positive for coronavirus, the Delaware Department of Correction announced Wednesday afternoon.

"DOC's well-established infectious disease containment and mitigation protocols have kicked in to address these COVID-19 cases and keep our facilities and people safe," Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Claire DeMatteis said Wednesday in a statement. 

The inmate was in the same housing unit in as the first one who tested positive on Monday. The housing unit has been carefully monitored by healthcare workers for the past week, with temperature checks two times a day, officials said.

DOC officials said this inmate began to register a fever during a Tuesday morning temperature check. He then was immediately moved to the infirmary to be treated in isolation and tested. The test results came back Wednesday afternoon.

The other inmates who were in the same housing unit with the two confirmed cases were moved to a vacant building across the compound to provide more physical distance, according to DOC.

DOC says the first inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 continues to be treated in the prison infirmary and has a normal temperature.

The probation and parole officer, who works at the Cherry Lane Probation and Parole Office in New Castle, began to self-isolate at home after beginning to experience flu-like symptoms, DOC said.

Officials said the officer then sought medical attention and was tested as symptoms developed. The results came on Tuesday and was verified by DOC on Wednesday.

The officer was last at the facility on Friday. This is the first probation and parole officer who tested positive for COVID-19, according to DOC.

DOC says they will not provide additional information about the identity of the inmate and the probation and parole officer for privacy protection.

The DOC is now employing a variety of prevention, screening, cleaning and containment measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, including:

• Anyone who enters any probation and parole office and any person entering any Level IV violation of probation and work release and Level V prison facility are screened for COVID-19.
• Staff who show up with symptoms are sent home to self-quarantine and directed to contact their health care provider. 
• Newly arriving inmates are held in isolation for the first 14 days and monitored.
• Extra daily cleaning of DOC facilities and using specialized fogging machines to disinfect entire rooms of common areas, housing units and workspaces.
• Face masks are being worn by correctional officers and contract healthcare workers as a protection for inmates, officers and other employees.
• Face masks are also being provided to inmates who are in infirmaries and those with compromised immune systems or with institutional jobs, including food service workers.
• Most probationer visits with probation officers were transitioned to phone check-ins starting last month.
• In-person prison programming are suspended to reduce movement. Certain programs, including treatment and education programs and religious programming, are being transitioned to a virtual video format.
• DOC is also expanding the use of electronic tablets among the inmate population, where available.

Inmates still have outside recreation within their confined areas and have access to phones to stay in regular contact with their loved ones.

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