Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
This page offers all of Delaware Public Media's ongoing coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it is affecting the First State. Check here regularly for the latest new and information.

More COVID-19 cases found at Sussex Correctional Institution

Delaware Public Media

A COVID-19 outbreak at a state prison facility in Sussex County is growing.

Delaware’s Department for Correction reports another 22 inmates have tested COVID-19 positive at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown.

The new cases come after DOC reported Thursday that 3 inmates at the facility turned up positive – the first new cases in the state’s prison system since May 21.

Of the 25 total cases, DOC says 17 patients are asympotmatic.  23 are now at DOC’s COVID-19 Treatment Center at Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. The other two are hospitalized – but are in stable condition.

DOC has suspended in-person visitation at Sussex Correctional Institution.  It is also giving inmates there masks and is usuing contact tracing to identify, isolate and test individuals who had sustained contact with any COVID-positive inmate.

DOC also reports nine staff members and one healthcare contractor at its facilities statewide currently have COVID-19. Six of the staff members that are COVID-19 positive work at Vaughn and three are from Sussex Correctional Institution.

 

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.