The U.K. has become the first country to approve the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and will begin distributing doses to the public next week. Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts says the U.S. will be right behind the U.K., predicting hundreds of millions of doses will be ready to go before Christmas.
Nearly two dozen inmates at Connecticut’s only women’s prison recently tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting a partial lockdown, Department of Correction officials said.
There were 14 infected inmates with symptoms at York Correctional Institution in East Lyme and another nine inmates who tested positive but had no symptoms as of Wednesday evening, department spokeswoman Karen Martucci said. All of them were in medical isolation, she said.
The partial lockdown at York, which houses nearly 500 inmates, includes restrictions on prisoners’ movements and a temporary suspension of in-person, non-contact social visits. Martucci said inmates are still able to use the phone and take showers every day, and free video conferencing has been made available. The facility was undergoing a deep cleaning, officials said.
Martucci said The York Correctional Institution has been operating under a modified movement plan that went into effect on Nov. 30. She said the Department of Correction use a phase system to adjust movement when there is an increase in cases.
Statewide, more than 290 inmates and nearly 140 employees currently have COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, nearly 1,750 state inmates have tested positive for the virus and eight have died, according to the latest Correction Department data. More than 9,200 inmates are detained in state prisons.
Stories from LX News
LX, or Local X stands, for the exponential possibilities of storytelling in our communities.
