ORIENT – During todays press conference Gov. Dewine spoke with Annette Chamber Smith Director of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections on what is going on with two prisons that have seen widespread infection within their facilities.
Smith said that they closed down visitors in early March and were the 2nd State in the country to lock down our prisons in plan to protect the virus from getting into our correction facilities.
In Marion, there were so many people who were asymptomatic and positive. We thought there would be a small number who were positive and asymptomatic, but the science told us differently.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 30, 2020
When they started seeing symptoms of the virus in prisons like Marion and Pickaway, Dewine mandated testing everyone because both locations have more older inmates, medical facilities, Pickaway is a dialysis unit and long-term facility. After testing everyone the prisons realized COVID-19 was widespread they found out 80-90% were asymptomatic, so they had to treat the entire system as infected.
.@DRCOhio: The reason we tested everyone in three facilities is b/c in Marion we have a high number who are older. Franklin is a medical facility. Pickaway has a dialysis unit and a long-term care facility. These are populations that are very vulnerable.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 30, 2020
Plans went into place giving inmates masks and having inmates laying head to feet, they have separated people into extra spaces within the facility, like chapels, rec rooms, and lunch room spaces to get distance between people.
Smith said the heroes are the staff at these facilities, going into these facilities knowing that the virus is widespread and still doing their jobs. They changed leave hours, they test and check staff members to make sure they are not sick when they go home or come into the facility. She wanted to remind these workers that many hotels are offering free rooms for showering or even to stay there and not go home to bring the virus home to their families.
You’ve heard @DrAmyActon say that heroes don’t wear capes – our heroes wear gray correction officer uniforms. They are coming into prisons where they know people are #COVID19 positive, but they are still doing their jobs every day.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 30, 2020
#ThankYou to our corrections staff at @DRCOhio! 👏#InThisTogetherOhio pic.twitter.com/Olk611lHpv
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 30, 2020
