COVID-19 in US prisoners, staff at triple the community rate

A study of COVID-19 rates among inmates and staff at 101 US federal prisons compared with surrounding counties from May 2020 through January 2021 finds three-times-higher infection rates in prisons.German and US researchers conducted the study, published late last week in BMC Public Health, using data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center from May 18, 2020, to Jan 31, 2021.

The study period did not span the emergence and dominance of the highly transmissible Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants, but it did cover a period of prison lockdowns in which no visitors were admitted.The study also assessed the effects of decarceration (release of prisoners) on COVID-19 rates among inmates, staff, and the community.

Decarceration involves reforms such as release to home confinement to decrease prison crowding and quell virus spread.The study authors cautioned that COVID-19 data for prisoners and staff differ from those for the community, with the former representing the time series of infected inmates and staff who tested positive and were still positive (prevalence), plus the time series count of previously infected prisoners and staff and those who have recovered or died, while the latter is the number of confirmed cases per day (incidence).Link with prison security level early in pandemicPer capita COVID-19 rates were significantly higher among prisoners than in staff and the community and were significantly linked with prison security level early in the pandemic, ranked from lowest rate to highest: High, minimum, medium, and low security."It is unclear why this is the case, but it may be because all incarcerated individuals in federal Minimum security prisons work, whereas this is not true of the