Coronavirus Update: Inmate At Metropolitan Detention Center Tests Positive For COVID-19
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the inmate arrived at the detention center on Monday. He began to complain of chest pains on Thursday.
The inmate was then taken to an outside hospital and tested for COVID-19. He was sent back to the MDC on Friday and immediately placed in isolation.
The Bureau of Prisons learned Saturday that the inmate's test results were positive.
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The inmate remains in isolation and the other inmates he was housed with are being quarantined. Any staff who came into contact with the inmate will also be quarantined.
The BOP says no staff members at the Brooklyn detention center have tested positive for the coronavirus.
This is the first federal inmate to test positive for the virus, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. Two BOP staff members -- one in Grand Prairie, Texas, and one in Leavenworth, Kansas -- also tested positive for the coronavirus.
CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ Health Dept. | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211
Meanwhile, on Rikers Island, both an inmate in his early 30s and a corrections officer have tested positive for the virus.
That inmate has been moved to the Rikers Island communicable disease unit. Mayor Bill de Blasio says eight other inmates who were in a housing unit with him reported having symptoms and were also moved to isolation in the communicable disease unit.
A Suffolk County corrections officer has also tested positive for COVID-19, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office announced Saturday.
The officer last worked at the Riverhead Jail on March 14. Any staff and jail medical personnel who may be affected have been notified, and staff members who worked with the officer had been told to self-quarantine.
According to the sheriff's office, the officer had limited contact with inmates, but the inmate population is being closely monitored for signs and symptoms of illness.
