Local Prison Outbreak Grows To 20

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Created on Wednesday, 10 November 2021 23:23

Written by Nick Fish

ST. JOHNSBURY - A local correctional facility still is seeing an uptick in cases after three weeks.

The Northeast Correctional Complex located in St. Johnsbury has reported a total of 20 cases among those incarcerated. The first case dates back to October 25th, Since then the facility has recorded 19 more cases including four cases among the employees. The prison went into lockdown on the 30th of October and has been in lockdown ever since. The facility has been testing all of its employees and inmates twice a week since the outbreak first occurred.

"We don't know how it got into the facility. We have worked with the Vermont Department of Health and the Epidemiology team and our contact tracing has not been able to determine Where the outbreak originated from," Said Al Cormier Chief of Operations at Vermont Department of Corrections.

The first case was discovered in the general population which makes it difficult for contact tracing.

Cormier says, "they are confident in their covid protocols". As cases continue to be detected in the correctional facility Cormier says the protocols they have in place in intake is why they have been successful in catching most cases coming into the prisons. New intakes to the facility need to undergo testing and a quarantine process before being released into the general population.

Cormier says, "They will keep moving forward following the best practices given by the CDC."