According to the LA Times “The number of inmates infected with the coronavirus at a federal prison in Lompoc, Calif., shot up to 792 this week, making it the largest federal penitentiary outbreak in the nation, surpassing a facility on Terminal Island in San Pedro, where 644 inmates have contracted the virus.

The Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc (FCI Lompoc) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in California. It is part of the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Lompoc) and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

Nearly 70% of the inmates at Lompoc have tested positive, exploding by more than 300 in recent days, officials said Friday. FCI Lompoc along with Terminal Island now account for about 47% of all the federal inmates who have tested positive nationwide. Both prisons have done widespread testing of hundred of inmates even without symptoms. 

Eleven staff members are also infected at the Lompoc facility, which houses 1,162 low-security inmates. A military mobile hospital has been built on the grounds to cope with the growing number of stricken patients. 

At a neighboring medium-security prison on the same grounds, 31 inmates and 14 staff have become infected, officials said. Two inmates have died after contracting the virus there. Combined, the two federal prisons in Lompoc have had 823 infected inmates, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Santa Barbara County Supervisor Gregg Hart on Friday expressed dismay with the prison and said that the county’s public health department has no power over the federal prison complex. “We have been consistently rebuffed by prison authorities,” he said. So high are the numbers coming out of FCI Lompoc that of 311 new cases reported in Santa Barbara County on Friday, it accounted for all but one, Hart said. 

Hart said the prison numbers are making it hard for the county to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new requirements for more widespread reopening around the state. Hart said state legislators from the area are now talking to officials in the governor’s office. 

Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer, said about 70% of the inmates’ tests at the Lompoc prison are coming back positive. 

“The vast majority of positive individuals report minor or no symptoms,” Ansorg said. The numbers are reflective of an institutional environment where people are housed in close quarters. He said the numbers at the prison may actually be higher because there is a lag time in reporting. 

While Ansorg said most of the inmates show few or no symptoms, some have been hospitalized. Santa Barbara County has 1,032 cases with about 80% being in the two federal prisons.

One man died within days of his release last month, officials said. Efrem Stutson, 60, was released from Lompoc on April 1 after serving 27 years for selling cocaine. Within hours of getting off a bus in San Bernardino, he was hospitalized. Five days later he was dead after contracting COVID-19. His sister said he became sick as he was about to be released and was hardly able to walk off the bus.”[MORE]