Lemasters Katherine, McCauley Erin, Nowotny Kathryn, Brinkley-Rubinstein Lauren
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
Department of Sociology, Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, 323 Uris Hall, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA.
Health Justice. 2020 Dec 11;8(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s40352-020-00125-3.
COVID-19 has entered United States prison systems at alarming rates. Disparities in social and structural determinants of health disproportionately affect those experiencing incarceration, making them more vulnerable to COVID-19. Additionally, prisons are sites of congregate living, making it impossible to practice social distancing, and most prisons have relied only on incremental measures to reduce risk and spread of COVID-19. To more fully understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on incarcerated populations, it is critical to have systematic data on testing, test positivity, cases, and case fatality. Using data from the COVID Prison Project, we present data on 53 prison systems COVID-19 testing, test positivity, case, and case fatality by state and compare these data with each state's general population. We do this for the early stages of the pandemic, utilizing data through July 15, 2020.
Many states are not reporting full information on COVID testing with some also not reporting on case fatality. Among those reporting data, there is a wide variation between testing, test positivity, and case rates within prison systems and as compared to the general population. However, when more tests are deployed more cases are identified with the majority of state prisons having higher case rates than their general population.
These findings underscore the need for the implementation and study of COVID-19 mitigation and surveillance strategies to flatten the COVID-19 curve in prisons across the country. We call for future research to build on these data from the COVID Prison Project to protect the health of our nations' often forgotten residents.
新冠病毒以惊人的速度进入了美国监狱系统。健康的社会和结构决定因素方面的差异对被监禁者产生了不成比例的影响，使他们更容易感染新冠病毒。此外，监狱是集体生活场所，无法实行社交距离措施，而且大多数监狱仅依靠渐进式措施来降低新冠病毒的风险和传播。为了更全面地了解新冠病毒对被监禁人群的影响，获取关于检测、检测阳性率、病例和病死率的系统数据至关重要。利用新冠监狱项目的数据，我们展示了53个监狱系统按州划分的新冠病毒检测、检测阳性率、病例和病死率数据，并将这些数据与每个州的普通人群进行比较。我们在疫情早期阶段进行此项工作，利用的数据截至2020年7月15日。
许多州没有报告完整的新冠病毒检测信息，有些州也没有报告病死率。在报告数据的州中，监狱系统内部以及与普通人群相比，检测、检测阳性率和病例率存在很大差异。然而，检测数量增加时，发现的病例也更多，大多数州监狱的病例率高于其普通人群。
这些发现强调了实施和研究新冠病毒缓解及监测策略以平缓全国监狱中新冠病毒曲线的必要性。我们呼吁未来的研究以新冠监狱项目的这些数据为基础，保护我国常常被遗忘的居民的健康。
