Waterbury, VT – Vermont Department of Corrections (Vermont DOC) is reporting 18 new Covid-19 cases among incarcerated individuals and staff: 13 incarcerated individuals and three staff at Northwest State Correctional Facility (NWSCF), one staff member at Southern State Correctional Facility (SSCF), and one staff member at Burlington Probation and Parole.
The lockdown that resulted from an outbreak at NWSCF on January 28, 2021 will continue after the 7-day outbreak testing on February 9 and 10, 2021 resulted in the identification of two new positive cases among staff and 13 among incarcerated individuals. One other staff member received a positive test result in the community. The outbreak appears to be contained to two units at NWSCF. Contact tracing is ongoing and those identified as close contacts of the individuals who tested positive are being placed in medical quarantine. A Rapid Response Team, made up of staff from Vermont DOC and the Vermont Department of Health (VDH), will meet and make recommendations about follow-up testing once contact tracing is complete.
Northeast Correctional Complex (NECC) is on full lockdown awaiting results of testing performed Thursday.
Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF) is out of full lockdown and back to modified operations after outbreak testing results came back negative for all staff and inmates.
Vermont DOC and VDH determined that SSCF could also return to modified operations after being on lockdown. The facility is still awaiting 14-day testing results. However, due to negative results on day 7 and a low-exposure risk to the incarcerated population, full lockdown was deemed unnecessary.
Daily updates on the COVID-19 response in Vermont’s correctional facilities can be found at https://doc.vermont.gov/covid-19-information-page.
# # #