By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily
Just two weeks after the Wyoming Department of Corrections began testing all of its staff and inmates for the coronavirus, a number of cases have been reported within one of its facilities.
According to a news release from the WDOC, testing was done at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins earlier this week, with a total of 876 tests conducted on WSP staff, contractors and inmates. As of Wednesday morning, six healthcare work, one staff member and three inmates had tested positive for the virus.
As a result, the prison has instituted containment protocols and contact tracing is underway. The facility is following guidelines from the Wyoming Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and is currently locked down.
Full test results from the prison are pending.
The coronavirus tests are required at all WDOC facilities. Inmates who refuse testing will be placed under a mandatory quarantine for 14 days with subsequent testing opportunities, even if they don’t have symptoms.
Inmates with symptoms will be quarantined, as will inmates newly received from outside of the WDOC. These two groups will be tested twice during the quarantine process and prior to release into the general population.
