-
Of 206 cases in Hamilton County, 167 are in prison.
Hamilton Correctional Institution continues to be a hotspot for covid-19, accounting for the majority of confirmed cases in Hamilton County.
Hamilton County had 206 confirmed cases as of Monday, according to the Florida Department of Health. After another wave of infections were confirmed at HCI, the total number of cases among prisoners there reached 167, according to the state Department of Corrections.
When the Department of Health in Hamilton County announced it had confirmed 12 new cases on Monday, nine were linked to the prison.
Health officials are now conducting a contact investigation and working on identifying and notifying individuals who need to self-monitor for symptoms over a 14-day period.
Contact investigations are a “critical way for staff epidemiologists to track and prevent the spread of disease,” according to a statement from the Department of Health in Hamilton County
Five HCI staffers have also tested positive.
The facility accounts for about 12 percent of the 1,398 cases in Florida involving state prisoners.
A total of 960 HCI inmates tested negative for the virus, and 134 were still pending.
In addition to the confirmed cases, 949 HCI inmates were under medical quarantine and four were under medical isolation.
Columbia Correctional Institution had 25 confirmed cases involving prisoners and one involving an employee. Fifty-four CCI inmates tested negative and no results were pending.
Only one inmate was tested at Lake City Correctional Facility, which is operated by the private firm CoreCivic. That prisoner tested negative.
One LCCF staffer tested positive, however.
It was the same for Suwannee Correctional Institution — one inmate was tested, coming back negative, and one staffer tested positive.
Overall, Suwannee County had 166 confirmed cases and 18 confirmed deaths as of Monday afternoon, according to the Florida Department of Health covid-19 dashboard. The outbreak there is centered on Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation Center.
Columbia County had 131 confirmed cases and two confirmed deaths, according to the state Department of Health.
Health officials have reported no covid-19 deaths in Hamilton County.