COVID in New Orleans prison, Louisiana prisons reach highest level of omicron phase | Coronavirus

the New Orleans Jail and the Louisiana Prison System are reporting large outbreaks of COVID-19 this week, among staff and those in custody, with the most reported cases since the outbreak linked to the omicron variant of the coronavirus began in late 2021.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that 95 inmates at its jail tested positive for the virus, or about 11% of the prison population, as did 68 staff members. This is an increase from 24 inmates and 49 staff two weeks earlier.

Across all Louisiana state prisons, 425 prisoners and 212 staff members tested positive for the virus, according to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, compared to just 24 prisoners and 150 staff members last week.

The biggest epidemic among prisoners is at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in Saint-Gabriel, with 100 reported cases. Allen Correctional Center in Kinder was just behind with 93. Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson reported 75 prisoner cases and the David Wade Correctional Center in Homer reported 72.

The current spike in prisons and the city jail of New Orleans is significantly larger than those that occurred during the wave of cases associated with the delta variant last summer. Neither agency reports the number of hospitalizations or deaths associated with the virus.

It’s also unclear how either agency is handling staffing shortages caused by the hundreds of guards who currently have COVID. The New Orleans jail and the Louisiana prison system were struggling with serious staffing issues before the recent surge in cases. In April, The Advocate reported that the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services had more than 400 guard positions unfilled, with a vacancy rate exceeding 35%. The Orleans sheriff’s office has more than 100 vacancies, and the prison’s understaffing has been repeatedly raised by federal prison guards who say guard positions are often vacant.

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services did not respond to multiple questions from The Lens regarding staffing and whether the increased number of staff has affected prison operations. It is also unclear what the current quarantine guidelines are for staff members who have been exposed to COVID.

Earlier this month, the department suspended visitation at all state prisons for the third time since the pandemic began.

Among prison staff, the largest outbreak is in Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, which accounts for more than 70 of the current cases.

The New Orleans Jail has also suspended visitor and volunteer access to the jail, in addition to in-person attorney visits, drawing criticism from Orleans public defenders, who say they need access comprehensive to their customers.

But on Thursday, Danny Engelberg, chief of trials for public defenders, also urged the sheriff’s office to increase COVID precautions in the jail.

“As we saw early in the pandemic, prisons and prisons are flashpoints for community spread and deadly infection both within prisons and throughout the community,” Engelberg said. “We urge the Sheriff to increase Covid precautions and begin recall efforts immediately.”

More than half of the inmates have been vaccinated, according to the sheriff’s office. But in late December, the Times-Picayune reported that none had received a booster, which health officials say reduces the likelihood of infection and the severity of illness linked to the omicron variant. A person in custody, the office told the newspaper, had requested the recall and would receive it the following week. The sheriff’s office did not respond to a request from The Lens for an update on booster shots.

Employees of the sheriff’s office must be vaccinated. This is not the case at the Ministry of Public Safety and Correctional Services, where vaccination is optional for employees. Over the summer, a department spokesman said the vaccination rate among staff was around 50% and more than 70% among prisoners. The department did not respond this week to a request for updated numbers, or provide information on whether prisoners were offered reminders.