SARS-CoV-2 Mitigation Strategies, Testing, and Cases at 254 Jails in the US Southeast, October 2020 to May 2021

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  • Levintow, S.N.
    • Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
  • DiRosa, E.
  • Carda-Auten, J.
  • Brown, M.E.
  • Bradley-Bull, S.
  • Blue, C.
  • Powers, K.A.
    • Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
  • Rosen, D.L.
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine
Abstract
  • Objectives. To characterize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mitigation strategies, testing, and cases across county jails in the Southeastern United States, examining variability by jail characteristics. Methods. We administered a 1-time telephone survey to personnel of 254 jails in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina between October 2020 and May 2021. Results. Some SARS-CoV-2 mitigation strategies (e.g., screening at intake, isolation and masking for symptomatic persons) were commonly reported (≥ 75% of jails). Other measures, such as masking regardless of symptoms (52%) and screening at release (26%), were less common and varied by jail state or population size. Overall, 41% of jails reported no SARS-CoV-2 testing in the past 30 days. Jails with testing (59%) tested a median of 6 per 100 incarcerated persons; of those jails, one third reported 1 or more cases of positive tests. Although most jails detected no cases, in the 20% of all jails with 1 or more case in the past 30 days, 1 in 5 tests was positive. Conclusions. There was low testing coverage and variable implementation of SARS-CoV-2 mitigation strategies in Southeastern US jails during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Journal title
  • American Journal of Public Health
Journal volume
  • 112
Journal issue
  • 11
Page start
  • 1589
Page end
  • 1598
Language
  • English
Funder
  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIMHD: R01MD012469
ISSN
  • 0090-0036
Publisher
  • American Public Health Association Inc.

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