Johnston County has COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield prison, as county’s cases top 100

Jonas Pope IV
·2 min read

Six people at Johnston Correctional Institution tested positive for COVID-19, the Johnston County Health Department reported Monday afternoon as the county’s total cases passed 100.

Three inmates and three staff members at the minimum-security prison in Smithfield have confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the health department stated in a news release. The first inmate tested positive last week, The News & Observer reported.

There were 104 total coronavirus cases in Johnston County as of Tuesday morning, according to the state Department of Heath and Human Services website. Eight people in Johnston County had died.

The prison cases marked the second outbreak in a congregate care setting in Johnston County. Last week, the health department reported an outbreak at Springbrook Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Clayton. The state considers two or more cases an outbreak.

As of Tuesday evening, there had been 35 cases at Springbrook among residents, including six deaths, and 19 cases among employees, according to a county news release. Seven of the infected employees live outside Johnston County.

Correctional center outbreaks

There have now been six outbreaks at correctional facilities in six counties in North Carolina: Granville, Greene, Halifax, Johnston, Pasquotank and Wayne.

Three more inmates at the Butner federal prison complex in Granville County died from complications related to COVID-19, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced on Monday. Four inmates had died.

John Bull, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Public Safety said to reduce the chance of the virus spreading, inmates in housing units or dorms are kept together so they don’t mix with inmates from other housing units or dorms.

“Offenders are put in isolation and treated, and the entire dorm where they were housed is put under quarantine with close observation and twice-daily thermometer checks,” Bull wrote in an email to The News & Observer. “All of this is done in accordance with CDC guidelines.”

Any staff member who feels sick has been told not to report to work until they have been seen by a doctor and are medically cleared to return.