COVID-19 rates in US prisons 3 times higher than surrounding communities: study

WASHINGTON -- A new study of COVID-19 rates among inmates and staff at 101 US federal prisons compared with surrounding counties has suggested three-times-higher infection rates in prisons.

German and US researchers conducted the study, using data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center from May 18, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021, according to a report of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

The study, published in BMC Public Health, also assessed the effects of release of prisoners on COVID-19 rates among inmates, staff, and the community.

"These studies can help inform infectious disease response policies in prisons that help to potentially mitigate rates of infection in incarcerated populations, staff, and the community at large," the researchers wrote.

The researchers noted that prisons have been the sites of some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks, with one in four inmates testing positive, at rates that were three to six times higher than the US public.