One in every 5 prisoners in the United States has caught the COVID-19 virus, a rate four times higher than average compared to the general population, according to Associated Press and The Marshall Project. That being said, the COVID-19 infection rate among U.S prisoners is 45% higher than the overall percentage all over the country.
Data suggests that 275,000 prisoners were infected with the virus and 1,700 died. The spread of the COVID-19 virus isn’t stopping anytime soon. The infection rates calculated by the Marshall Project and the Associated press on Tuesday are based on data collected since March.
Some of the important factors that caused the increase in mortality rate and infection spread are the poor ventilation and the overcrowded prisons which make the social distancing and quarantine an impossible thing to do.
Ironically, two weeks ago the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) released recommendations regarding the prioritization of COVID-19 vaccines. Health care workers and nursing home residents were at the top of the list, followed by workers and eventually people who are 65 and older while prisoners were totally neglected and didn’t have any place on the list.
