COVID-19 cases surge at NC prison; more than 250 inmates infected, officials say

More than a third of the inmates at Neuse Correctional Institution have now been diagnosed with COVID-19.

As of Friday afternoon, 259 inmates at the eastern North Carolina prison had tested positive, state prisons commissioner Todd Ishee said.

That’s up from just 19 reported on Tuesday. The surge in new cases follows the prison system’s decision on Thursday to conduct COVID-19 tests on every inmate at Neuse. More test results are pending.

The inmates who’ve tested positive at Neuse make up the overwhelming majority of the 281 cases reported in the state’s prisons overall. Statewide, 30 prison employees have also reported testing positive, Ishee said.

The state Department of Public Safety said Thursday that they would also offer testing to all 250 of the staff members at Neuse. Eight employees there have reported that they’ve tested positive so far, Ishee said.

Located in Goldsboro, Neuse houses about 770 minimum and medium custody inmates.

Destiny Akers said her father, an inmate at Neuse, is likely among those who’ve been infected.

Her father, 56-year-old Scott Davenport, cut short his phone call with Akers on Tuesday afternoon, saying he felt, sick, tired and short of breath. Later that day, prison medical staff found that Davenport had a temperature of 102.3 degrees, Akers told The Charlotte Observer.

A prison nurse said Davenport would be tested for COVID-19, but family members have not yet received test results, Akers said.

Akers said she is particularly concerned because her father suffers from a lung disease, high blood pressure and other ailments. He has been put in a segregated housing unit, under quarantine. But family members have asked prison officials to send Davenport to a hospital to prevent him from contracting pneumonia, Akers said.

Testing all inmates at the prison is essential, she said, because “I definitely think this is a public health crisis.” But she worries that the prison’s medical staff will soon be overwhelmed.

“What are they going to do when they have an extremely high number of cases?” she asked.

‘Cause for concern but not for panic’

COVID-19 test swabs were taken Wednesday from about 300 inmates in five dorms, DPS said. All of the inmates tested were placed in dorms that are now under quarantine. Additional test results are pending.

Among the inmates who’ve tested positive, 98 percent have no symptoms so far, according to Ishee, the state prisons commissioner.

Inmates who test positive are being separated from those who test negative, Ishee said. And all of the prison’s staff members and inmates have been issued masks, he said.

“This is a very challenging situation for our staff,” Ishee said. “...They’re really unsung heros.”

State prison officials say they are doing the testing at Neuse in partnership with the state public health laboratory, the Department of Health and Human Services and Labcorp.

“The outbreak at Neuse CI is no doubt a cause for concern but not for panic,” Ishee said. “We have medical protocols in place to handle this and frankly it is better to know up front what we are facing so we can do what is necessary to stop the spread.”

Prisons and jails are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases, experts say, because inmates live so closely together.

North Carolina’s 53 prisons house about 35,000 inmates and employ about 16,000 staff members.

State prison officials announced Monday that they have begun releasing some inmates early to reduce the prison population and curb the spread of COVID-19.

State officials say they have also taken many other preventive steps.

Among other things, they have banned all visits to the prisons, suspended the work release program and begun taking the temperature of every employee who enters a prison each day.

State prison officials have also been scrambling to secure supplies that slow the spread of the virus, the Observer reported.

Inside state prison manufacturing plants, inmates are now making face masks, gowns, disinfectant and hand sanitizer. Prison officials say every inmate and staff member will receive a face mask once enough are manufactured.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 1:09 PM with the headline "COVID-19 cases surge at NC prison; more than 250 inmates infected, officials say."