The nation’s worst outbreak of COVID-19 in a prison is at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, where 69 inmates and 25 staff members are infected and a field hospital is being constructed on the grounds, authorities said.
While about 450 federal inmates nationwide have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Lompoc penitentiary’s level of infection has far outpaced any other facility, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Thirteen of the infected inmates have been hospitalized and two are now in intensive care, according to Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg. Of the 25 infected staffers, one is in the hospital, he said.
The medium-security facility houses about 1,500 inmates.
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