Prison flu by State

[GhostRN]

5/4 08:33 entry......generally tracked by the states. Grant said the CDC advises corrections officials to isolate and monitor people with flulike symptoms at their facilities for at least seven days.http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-prison-flu_N.htm

CA: 5/4/00:35 entry: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Visitation at all state prisons in California has been suspended because of a possible case of swine <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%;" id="itxt_nobr_1_0">flu</nobr>.http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-prison-flu_N.htm
An inmate who became sick at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County is being tested for the flu. http://cbs2.com/local/swine.flu.prison.2.1000304.html
5/4 08:27 entry: California operates the largest state system, which holds about 170,000 inmates. It canceled all visitation and barred all non-essential personnel from the facilities after prison officials diagnosed the first "probable" case of the H1N1 virus Sunday. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-prison-flu_N.htm
Federal: 5/4 08:31 The federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages 203,000 offenders, has launched the first of a four-part response plan that involves screening all new prisoners for symptoms. Spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said some facilities have canceled visitation but declined to say which ones.
FL 5/4 08:32 There were no confirmed cases in Florida, the third-largest state system, which has about 100,000 inmates. Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said prison officials met Monday to discuss possible containment plans.http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-prison-flu_N.htm
TX: 5/4 08:29 Texas manages the nation's second-largest state system, holding 154,000 offenders. Authorities canceled visitation at all 112 facilities over the weekend and will consider closing to visitors next weekend.http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-04-prison-flu_N.htm

 

[thebes]

Re: Prison flu by State

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/nyregion/17flu.html?ref=health

Prisoner at Riker's Island in NY has swine flu

Rikers Cancels Weekend Visits Over Flu Case

By MITCHELL L. BLUMENTHAL and AL BAKER
Published: May 16, 2009
The Department of Correction said Saturday that inmates at Rikers Island were advised to tell friends and relatives not to visit this weekend after it was disclosed late Friday that a prisoner received a diagnosis of swine flu there earlier in the week.

A prison spokesman said the inmate, who had been sent to Rikers on April 18, was admitted to the Elmhurst Hospital Center on Wednesday after complaining of flulike symptoms.

?I?m told he is not in serious condition,? the spokesman, Stephen J. Morello, said Friday night.

The disclosure came in the aftermath of six public school closings in Queens and Brooklyn on Friday because of the spread of the virus, formally known as the A(H1N1) strain.

Asked on Saturday if there are any more swine flue cases within the city corrections system, Mr. Morello said, "No."

He added that there were no new plans for treating and housing inmates with the flu.

"If more cases come forward, we may need to take similar actions in other housing areas,? Mr. Morello said, ?but as of now the protocols and the policies that we have put in place are what we are going with."

He said officials have told inmates ? fewer than 70 ? in the two affected housing areas that, "they should call anybody who they think will come and visit and tell them not to come and visit this weekend. Those inmates will not have visits this weekend."

Mr. Morello said the Correction Department and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had developed a prevention protocol for swine flu. It includes screening every new inmate for symptoms and checking prisoners who seek medical attention for swine flu, no matter why they asked to be examined.

He said all of the areas in which the inmate with swine flu, whom he declined to identify, had been held had been sanitized. ?All the other inmates in the area in which he was held, including those closest to him, have been examined,? Mr. Morello said, noting that no one else showed signs of the flu.

He said the department would not send new inmates to the Anna M. Kross Center, where the inmate had been housed, at least over the weekend. ?We think those steps are sufficient to prevent the spread of any other symptoms,? he said. ?This is the only case that we?ve had confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak.?

The union representing guards at Rikers demanded that the Kross Center be closed. ?This is a deadly disease which has proven to spread quickly and can inflict immediate harm to anyone who comes in contact with someone who shows symptoms,? said Norman Seabrook, the president of the union, the Correction Officers? Benevolent Association.

He said the infected inmate had been in the general population. ?The hallways just going back and forth, there are dozens of inmates in the hallways,? Mr. Seabrook said. ?That facility needs to be sanitized just like a school.?

He said he would tell correction officers who have worked at the Kross Center to schedule physicals with their doctors.

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his departing health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, acknowledged Friday the city?s schools seem to have become both a sentinel and an incubator for the new H1N1 strain of flu.

?It appears at this point in schools in New York City in these days to be spreading more rapidly than traditional influenza,? Dr. Frieden said. ?We don?t know why that is, but the fact we have neither a vaccine nor experience being infected with this strain of influenza are likely explanations.?

Some parents, school staff and teachers? union officials wondered whether the city was moving too slowly to close schools with high absenteeism.

Nancy Crespo?s daughter, Alexis, a seventh grader, attends Intermediate School 238 in Queens, which was closed Thursday. She said that nearly 80 children were quarantined Tuesday in the auditorium, and that her daughter had a 102-degree fever that night. She called the school?s main office Wednesday but was brushed off, she said.

?I wish it would have been easier for me to get answers,? Ms. Crespo said.