COLUMBUS (AP) — Officials say that the number of coronavirus infections in Ohio’s prisons has topped 160 and that the first inmate has died.
The Ohio Department of Health call center is open 7 days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to answer questions regarding COVID-19 at 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634).
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Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday an inmate at Pickaway Correctional Institution died of COVID-19.
DeWine authorized members of the Ohio National Guard to support medical staff at the prison, where more than a dozen members of its medical team are suffering from COVID-19.
Members of the guard will provide triage support, take temperatures, and help with non-COVID-19 cases, DeWine said.
They will also help provide care at the prison’s long-term care center, which houses older inmates and those with chronic illnesses.
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction reports 100 staff members and 67 inmates have tested positive and 12 of Ohio’s 28 prisons are under full quarantine.
The Lima News reports the agency is restricting inmates to two meals a day, with the same calorie intake as three to reduce movement and contact between individuals.
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on DeWine to release thousands of inmates.
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The state on Monday reported there were nearly 7,000 confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties and 274 patients had died.
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The ACLU of Ohio and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center filed a class action petition on behalf of prisoners at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution the lawsuit says are at “grave risk from the coronavirus.”
At least three people have died at the facility and the groups are demanding that high-risk prisoners be released, furloughed or transferred to home confinement.