JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It wasn’t too long ago when people would compare the need to control the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities to Florida prisons and jails.
One group has already started vaccinating residents, while the CDC doesn’t address prisons and jails outside of corrections officers.
“That worries me about just how we’ve treated this population in America for the last hundred years. And it’s not a priority, it’s an afterthought,” said Kevin Gay, CEO of Operation New Hope, a group that helps people with criminal records transition back into society.
Gay said though it’s controversial, it’s important to remember a group that’s contributed to the spread of the virus.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s going to be the only way that we’re going to really get our hands around stopping this infection,” he said.
The AP reports more than a dozen states don’t mention prisoners or corrections staff in their vaccination plans, even though they say 1 in 5 prisoners in the U.S. has been infected with COVID-19.
“It’s much higher than the general population that we’re seeing outside of the facilities,” Gay explained.
Currently in Florida, 24 facilities have active COVID-19 cases. 233 inmates are currently in medical isolation and 189 inmates have died from COVID-19.
The state department of health partnered with the FDC to do COVID-19 testing and we’re told most local jails in Florida are enrolled as vaccine providers.
“They could be pushing that issue down to be a local issue as opposed to a state issue but either way it’s something we have to get our hands around,” said Gay.
Though some facilities have released inmates throughout the pandemic, Gay said more should be done.
News4Jax asked him if vaccines should be a choice or a requirement inside the facilities.
“I think there’s going to be such a minority that’s going to say that I don’t want it that it might be easier isolate those that haven’t been vaccinated than it is to have to have a quarantine such a large number,” he said.
In the Duval County Jail, seven employees have tested positive and 10 inmates are positive and quarantined in DOC facilities.
The DOC said since the start of the pandemic, 98% of inmates in facilities across the state were cleared from medical isolation, and 90% of the staff returned to work.
State senator Audrey Gibson emailed a statement to News4Jax: