A resident of the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario died on Wednesday after contracting COVID-19, officials said Friday.
The death marks the second death of a resident who tested positive for the virus in custody by the Oregon Department of Corrections since the outbreak was first discovered in the state in late February.
The resident who died, a man between 60 and 70 years old, was tested on Tuesday, but died the next day in the house murders, officials said. His test results, which returned Friday, confirmed that he had contracted the virus.
The Department of Corrections has not released any other details about his identity or exact death.
The first resident to suffer from the disease in the state, a man between 50 and 60 years old, died in May at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. When he died, the Secretary of State was the only prison for maximum security of Oregon, the epicenter of the disease in the state prison system, home to one of the largest outbreaks in the state at the time.
Under normal circumstances, the state discloses the name, county of conviction, length of sentence and date of death for people dying in custody, but officials have changed this practice for occupants contracting the virus.
“To balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information, we have changed the (inmate) process of death notification when someone dies who has tested positive for COVID,” the agency said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 527 inmates had positive tests for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 447 were repaired, according to a website of departments of corrections. Among prison staff, 144 people tested positive and 87 were recovered.
More than 14,000 people are currently in custody across 14 institutions statewide, officials said.
– Kale Williams; [email protected]; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
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