IOWA — The Iowa Department of Corrections reports there are now 20 prison inmates and seven staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Nineteen inmates and six staff members at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville have tested positive. That is where the first Iowa inmate tested positive last month.
One inmate has tested positive at the Clarinda Correctional Facility, and one employee tested positive at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Polk County.
Right now, the North Central Correction Facility in Rockwell City is the only one of Iowa’s nine prisons that has not conducted COVID-19 testing.
To mitigate the spread of the virus, all community-based corrections and prison staff members are being required to wear masks, and inmates will be required to wear sneeze guards and face shields. All visitation has been canceled until further notice.
The Iowa Department of Corrections has also been working to ease overcrowding in the system. Last month, the department approved 482 inmates for early release with another 90 pending.