COVID-19 transmission in the surrounding county consistently associated with COVID-19 incidence in prisons<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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TUESDAY, Aug. 10, 2021 (HealthDay News) — In 14 prisons in Massachusetts, increased crowding was associated with increased incidence rates of COVID-19, according to a study published online Aug. 9 in JAMA Internal Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Abigail I. Leibowitz, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal ecological study among incarcerated persons in 14 Massachusetts state prisons between April 21, 2020, and Jan. 11, 2021, to examine the correlations between prison crowding, community COVID-19 transmission, and incidence rates of COVID-19 in prison. During the study period, there were an average of 6,876 persons incarcerated in the 14 prisons.<\/p>\n The researchers found that during the observation period, the median level of crowding varied from 25 to 155 percent of design capacity. In prisons where the incarcerated population was a larger percentage of the prison’s design capacity, the incidence of COVID-19 was significantly higher (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.14 per 10-percentage point difference). In prisons where a higher proportion of incarcerated people were housed in single-cell units, the incidence of COVID-19 was lower (IRR, 0.82 for each 10-percentage point increase in single-cell units). There were consistent associations for COVID-19 transmission in the surrounding county with COVID-19 incidence in prisons (IRR, 1.06 for each increase of 10 cases per 100,000 person-weeks in the community).<\/p>\n “Interventions that promote prison depopulation and reduce staff exposure should be pursued to mitigate COVID-19 risk among incarcerated persons,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text<\/a><\/p>\n