HURRICANE, Utah — Fifteen inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Department.
Approximately 100 more inmates who were exposed to the positive inmates are being tested.
Corrections Division Chief Deputy Jake Schultz said that on Saturday, June 20, four inmates at the Purgatory Correctional Facility (PCF) began to exhibit symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
All four inmates were moved to medical isolation cells and tested for COVID-19. Three of the four inmates tested positive.
On Monday, June 22, PCF staff tested 24 additional inmates, all of whom had been housed with the inmates who had tested positive. This included three inmates who had since been transferred to different housing units. Twelve of those 24 inmates tested positive for COVID-19, including two who had been transferred to different housing units. All 15 inmates who tested positive have been medically quarantined within the facility.
PCF staff will be testing approximately 100 additional inmates who may have been exposed to one or more of the inmates who tested positive. In accordance with their pandemic response plan, PCF staff have temporarily quarantined all of these inmates.
As it currently stands, PCF has four housing units which are being utilized to quarantine the exposed and potentially exposed inmates, two of which are being used to house the inmates who may have been exposed, one being used to house the inmates who have tested positive, and another to house the 12 inmates who initially tested negative.
As a precautionary measure, these inmates will remain quarantined until they can be re-tested in two weeks.
PCF staff has relocated any "high-risk" inmates who were potentially exposed to medical observation cells pending the results of their initial tests.