About 40% of inmates in LA jails are in quarantine; Contagion within facilities has increased by up to 60% in recent weeks.
Security videos from a Los Angeles County jail show shocking images of what authorities say are inmates deliberately trying to become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that there was suddenly a significant spike in infections at the Pitchess Detention Center-North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, when they had zero COVID-19 cases.
"It was a very remarkable leap, and we really couldn't understand why it happened when everything seemed to be going as we wanted," Villanueva said at a press conference Monday.
When doing research and reviewing prison surveillance videos, one of these shows how one of the inmates puts hot water in a bottle and distributes it among his colleagues. Some of them drink from the bottle and then approach a nurse who is checking their temperature.
The hot water dispenser — attached to the wall — is available so that inmates can make their instant coffee or soup, Villanueva explained.
The Sheriff said the purpose was to falsely raise his temperature after drinking hot water while trying to catch it.
Another video shows different inmates sharing a mask and bringing it closer to their faces as they continue to share a glass of hot water. In both videos, the inmates do not maintain the indicated social distance and most of them are carefree.
As a result, 21 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 one week after imaging. in the videos.
Sheriff Villanueva said this was an attempt by inmates who thought that with the contagion some of them would be released.
"That is not going to happen," said Villanueva. "We have done everything in our power to reduce the spread or prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our prison system."
Villanueva said that after having about 17,000 inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system, he now has about 11,700 inmates.
With the increase this week in up to 60% of cases of COVID-19, so far the prison system has 4,590 inmates in quarantine and 317 in isolation. Sheriff Villanueva said that 357 inmates infected with COVID-19 have been reported, of which 117 have already fully recovered.
"When a person tests positive or has positive symptoms, we take care of quarantining the entire bedroom," Villanueva said. Some bedrooms have up to 200 inmates.
"Once we obtain information that the inmate who tested positive is fine, then we release all the inmates from his bedroom from quarantine," added Villanueva.
Although all necessary precautions are being taken with LASD staff, Villanueva said that 320 members have been quarantined so far; 227 are sworn officers and 93 professional staff. Additionally, 107 have been positive to COVID-19 including 71 sworn officers.
"We are unfortunate because we have had personnel who have been quarantined twice now," Villanueva said. “That only illustrates the threat this poses to our front-line staff. This is not unique to the sheriff's department, but also to our professional staff, our medical staff, our essential services in the food industries, for example, they are all constantly exposed to the environment where they can become a positive COVID-19 case. ”
Cases also increase outside of jail
Los Angeles County health authorities in part agreed with Villanueva's comments on the same Monday when they announced that 3,614 cases out of a total of 32,258 confirmed cases of COVID-19 are health workers and first aid personnel. This is an increase of 636 new additional cases in the previous week.
In total, as of Monday, a total of 1,569 deaths were reported in Los Angeles County including 39 new deaths. Of the total, it is estimated that 38% are Latino.
Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said 33 of those who died were over the age of 65 and four people were between the ages of 41 and 65 and one more between the ages of 18 and 40.
"Twenty-five people had underlying health problems, including 22 people over the age of 65 and three people between the ages of 41 to 65," said Ferrer.
Seven percent of health workers with COVID-19 have been hospitalized, and 46% of cases are among nurses. There are also cases of caregivers, people working in the administration, doctors, and medical assistants.
Health workers who are positive worked in 25 different occupational settings, and the vast majority of cases correspond to health workers in skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.
Nonetheless, Ferrer corroborated that the county began its second phase of reopening with businesses such as florists and other retailers with sidewalk pick-up orders as well as car dealership showrooms with adequate distance.
The director thanked the people who followed the physical distancing protocols and other rules for using open spaces such as the walking and golf parks.
