Correctional and detention facilities are not closed systems where the population can be kept free from the impact of COVID-19. A viral outbreak can spread rapidly inside these settings, overwhelming limited hospital facilities and reducing staff capacity.
Correctional / Detention Facilities
Correctional / Detention Facility Testing and Surveillance Programs
How Our Program Works
At Nexsun Diagnostic Labs, we provide you with the sampling kits, the necessary paperwork for processing the samples, and deliver test results within 24 hours of receiving the samples at our diagnostic laboratory.
Why Partner with Nexsun Labs for Your Testing Needs?
Nexsun Labs works with you to deliver the tests you need when you need them, and we can adapt to new testing regimes when you face new challenges.
Benefits of an Ongoing Testing Program
Vaccinated individuals and other asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 don’t show up in routine screening that only looks for symptoms and an elevated temperature. In the crowded confines of a correctional facility, one undetected COVID-19 carrier can rapidly infect many individuals.
Ongoing testing is the preferred method for having peace of mind and certainty about the health status of your facility.
Types of Screening and Surveillance Programs for Correctional Facilities
Screening in a correctional facility is essential in the early detection and prevention of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Daily Entrance Screening
Pool and Pod Testing
Pool tests are completed in the same length of time as a single individual test and at a fraction of the cost. By pooling samples of linked individuals (sharing a dorm, shift, or part of the building), you can clear entire groups as COVID-19 free if the pool test for that pod comes back negative.
Identifying a positive group inside a correctional facility requires further testing, but because of the close contact nature of incarceration and detention, you will likely be treating this group as a cohort for additional quarantine and testing.
COVID-19 testing for correctional facilities will always involve mass testing, such as pool testing, since it can allow you to identify problem areas swiftly.
Contact Tracing
The unique circumstances of a correctional or detention facility makes contact tracing more challenging than in other organizations. Although the movement of inmates is primarily controlled and monitored, the practical implications of an outbreak are that many people require a diagnostic test.
Close contact consisting of fifteen minutes (across twenty-four hours) at a distance of fewer than six feet is sufficient for viral transmission between individuals. Most inmates will have multiple close contacts in this time frame, so it is difficult to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in a correctional facility from escalating. Rapid diagnostic testing of close contacts is crucial in preventing the spread of coronavirus in prisons and jails.
Testing Guidance & Requirements for Correctional / Detention Facilities
Your local Department of Corrections may have additional requirements. Detention facilities depend on the availability of healthcare onsite or the need to transfer people elsewhere if they contract coronavirus.
Diagnostic testing is a part of management and prevention in correctional facilities. Acceptable social distancing and hygiene practices are the first line of defense but are more challenging in detention and correctional facilities.
Symptom screening (observed and reported), testing, and contact tracing are all essential strategies for identifying and minimizing the impact of COVID-19 in correctional facilities.
CDC guidelines recommend diagnostic tests for any staff member and incarcerated or detained individuals. This includes close contacts with those who display coronavirus symptoms, regardless of vaccination status. COVID-19 testing in jails involves many more individuals than in other typical organizations.
Dealing with Inmates
Inmates showing symptoms need to wear masks (if not exempt) and enter medical isolation while awaiting test results. After a positive test, the inmate remains in medical isolation until cleared to return to the general population. If necessary, infected inmates can be housed as a cohort while they all quarantine and recover from COVID-19.
If a case occurs in an open dorm, then everyone in that dorm is a close contact with the positive case. Due to the proximity of these incarcerated individuals, COVID-19 testing for prisons will always involve multiple diagnostic tests. If an inmate tests positive on intake but has not yet had contact with other inmates, that case is an isolated case (not an outbreak), and the inmate is placed in quarantine until clear to join the population.
All inmates need daily temperature and symptom screening until fourteen days after the last positive test during an outbreak.
Dealing with Staff
Staff with symptoms must stay at home and take a diagnostic test. If positive, they must quarantine at home until cleared to return. Before entering the correctional facility, the pre-entry screening will pick up staff with symptoms but not asymptomatic individuals.
Dealing with Visitors
Pre-entry screening of visitors with a health questionnaire and a temperature check allows you to exclude visitors with potential COVID-19 infections but will not pick up asymptomatic individuals.
Widespread Testing – Challenging Contact Tracing
Inside a correctional facility, it may be challenging to locate and identify all close contacts of an individual.
Retesting Quarantined Cohorts
CDC recommends retesting a quarantined cohort of individuals every three to seven days until there are no positive cases for fourteen days. A PCR test is one of the more reliable and consistent tests for identifying low infection levels.
As individuals test positive, they need to be isolated, and the fourteen-day testing window starts again for the cohort.
What to Do if You Have an Outbreak
Inside a correctional facility, an outbreak occurs if more than one inmate or staff member tests positive for COVID-19. If the inmate tests positive before entering the system and has had no close contact with staff or other inmates, it is an isolated occurrence and not an outbreak.
Vaccinated inmates and staff without symptoms do not need to quarantine. Still, it is advisable to monitor them for symptoms and routinely test after close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Anyone with symptoms needs to isolate at home (staff) or within the facilities, either by themselves or in a cohort. Diagnostic testing continues until fourteen days after the last positive test result.
Unvaccinated inmates require a fourteen-day quarantine period, either alone or with others, as these people are more vulnerable to catching and spreading the infection. Operational requirements may allow unvaccinated staff without symptoms to continue working, but with regular COVID testing and screening.
Resources for individual facilities will determine whether separate quarantine or group quarantine for inmates is preferred. Individuals can be grouped as those without symptoms and monitored for potential positive cases. Confirmed positive cases can be grouped together for ease of quarantine and providing medical assistance. Before an inmate can return to the general population, they must be symptom-free for fourteen days and receive a negative test.
Which Program is Best for Correctional / Detention Facilities?
Bottom Line: partnering with a dedicated testing laboratory, like Nexsun, means you get accurate and consistent testing of your staff and inmates at an affordable price.
