A man incarcerated in a state prison and who had tested positive for COVID-19 died Thursday, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. He was an inmate at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla. He died at a local hospital. DOC said the man was between 65 and 75 years old. Twenty-eight adults who tested positive for the disease and were incarcerated in an Oregon prison have now died, according to DOC.
Oregon Department of Corrections begins vaccinating staff; limited number of inmates will get doses soon
Updated Jan 08, 2021;
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The Oregon Department of Corrections has vaccinated at least 400 of its staff at prisons across the state and could begin administering doses to a limited number of inmates as soon as next week, officials said Friday.
The department received an initial allotment of 400 doses in late December, said spokeswoman Vanessa Vanderzee, and all were administered by the end of 2020 to staff members who came in close contact with COVID-19 positive inmates.
A limited group of inmates who also come into contact with infected people will be eligible for the next round of vaccines, Vanderzee said, though she did not say exactly how many people would be in that group because that number is still in flux. The end result will likely be vaccinations for between 10 and 40 inmates at each of the state’s six largest prisons.
UMATILLA â Brandon Baker was already feeling symptoms when officials at Two Rivers Correctional Institution carried out a sick inmate from two cells down.
Another inmate, four cells away, said he saw the same inmate lying on his bed ill for nearly two weeks, receiving little care.
âHe looked like death,â the inmate, who asked for anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said. âI walked by and told him, âGet better broâ and he didnât even move. Like, comatose on his bed.â
The sick inmate, who was between 50 and 60 years old and was serving his sentence at TRCI, reportedly died on Saturday, Jan. 2, after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a press release that did not identify him by name. Heâs one of two inmates who have recently died as the institution endures the largest surge in COVID-19 cases among prisons in Oregon, with 235 active cases as of Wednesday, Jan. 6, according to data from the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC)
2 die, nearly 400 inmates sickened after COVID-19 outbreak at Oregon prison
Updated Jan 09, 2021;
Posted Jan 09, 2021
Nearly 400 inmates at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 since Dec. 10, 2020, according to data from the Department of Corrections. Since the beginning of December 2020, 50 prison staff have also tested positive. (Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian)
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By Bryce Dole, East Oregonian
UMATILLA Brandon Baker was already feeling symptoms when officials at Two Rivers Correctional Institution carried out a sick inmate from two cells down.
Another inmate, four cells away, said he saw the same inmate lying on his bed ill for nearly two weeks, receiving little care.