Jails can spread coronavirus to nearby communities, study finds

(CNN)Jails can be a large source of coronavirus spread both inside the facility and in the surrounding communities, researchers reported Monday.

Inmates going in and out of Chicago's Cook County Jail appear to have carried the infection as they went, the researchers reported in the journal Health Affairs.

Across the country, those behind bars have been hit hard by the pandemic and many prisons have been identified by US officials as coronavirus hotspots. In an effort to downsize their populations, some facilities have made transfers while others have released certain qualified inmates.

In Illinois, data suggests more than 4,700 coronavirus cases through April 19 were associated with 2,129 individuals going through the Cook County Jail in March, researchers from Harvard University's Department of Anthropology and the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris said.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/health/jails-nearby-communities-coronavirus-spread-study/index.html