Waterbury, VT – Mass testing conducted at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility on Thursday showed no positive cases among the 198 staff and inmates tested.
Testing was ordered after a staff member tested positive Monday, December 7. The staff member was last in the facility on December 6.
Vermont Department of Corrections and Vermont Department of Health officials immediately took the following actions upon receipt of the positive test result Monday:
- CRCF placed on full lockdown.
- Contact tracing initiated with the Rapid Response Team.
- Other staff identified as having close contact with the positive individual are quarantining.
- Mass testing coordinated and scheduled.
A total of two staff at CRCF have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. The first tested positive on May 12 and has since recovered. The facility’s only positive inmate case was in June. That individual was a new intake from the community and was tested upon arrival per Vermont DOC protocol.
“Our number one goal in the Vermont Department of Corrections is to keep our facilities clean of COVID-19,” said Commissioner Jim Baker. “Because of the hard work of staff and our management team, Vermont leads the country in correctional systems that are successfully mitigating the spread of COVID.”
Since the start of the pandemic, 29 Vermont DOC staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
Daily updates on the COVID-19 response in Vermont’s correctional facilities can be found at https://doc.vermont.gov/covid-19-information-page.
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