Two additional inmates at Maine Correctional Center in Windham have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of inmates at the prison to be sickened by the novel coronavirus to four.
Three or more cases of an infectious disease at one location is considered an outbreak by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and this was the first coronavirus outbreak at a prison in Maine.
The two inmates are both men, one in his early 40s and the other in his late 60s, the Maine Department of Corrections said in a statement Saturday evening. Both have been moved to isolation units to prevent further spread of COVID-19, and they do not need to be hospitalized, the department said.
They were tested as part of campuswide testing that started on May 19, the day the first inmate tested positive. Through Saturday, 744 test samples had been collected from all inmates, staff and contracted vendors. All 283 workers at the Windham prison have tested negative, while there have been four positives out of the 461 inmates, the department said.
Corrections officials are currently discussing with the Maine CDC whether to conduct retesting.
The inmate in his 40s has been in Department of Corrections custody since May 2016, while the other has been in prison in Maine since June 1998.
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