Exactly 1,349 inmates and staff at the Hartsville-based Trousdale Turner Correctional Center tested positive for COVID-19 this week, according to press releases from both Gov. Bill Lee and CoreCivic, which operates the facility.
Out of 2,444 inmates tested, exactly 1,299 tested positive for COVID-19, while 50 staff members, out of 281 tested, also had the virus, according to CoreCivic.
Staff for The Tennessee Department of Correction did not return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Saturday.
No one at CoreCivic was available to speak Saturday, but staff said this on their website:
“All of the inmates and staff were asymptomatic at the time of testing. This is consistent with other correctional systems, which are reporting that 96 percent of inmates who tested positive are asymptomatic. Across all inmates and staff, only two inmates at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center have exhibited symptoms related to COVID-19, and they both are receiving medical attention at a nearby hospital,” according to CoreCivic.
“The facility is currently conducting contact tracing for all staff and inmates. Prior to this round of employee and contractor testing, there were 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases among our staff. All of these employees are self-isolating at home and are in regular communication with their healthcare providers.”
CoreCivic staff also said the rate of infection at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center is consistent with or below what other correctional systems nationally have reported.
Members of Tennessee’s Unified Command Group, meanwhile, announced this week that all Tennessee Department of Correction inmates will test for COVID-19 beginning next week, according to the governor’s website.
The statewide mass testing initiative follows additional, targeted facility testing that TDOC staff conducted at the Bledsoe County and Northwest Correctional Complexes on April 10, and at the Turney Center Industrial Complex on April 19, Lee’s website said.
CoreCivic officials said they will launch a 24-hour COVID-19 information hotline for family members of incarcerated individuals. The hotline will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People who wish to call the hotline may do so at (615) 263-3200.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Think about the data set TNDOH has given up until now. Supposedly testing people “with symptoms”, not “wasting” the test kits on asymptomatic (but for some reason still parroting that asymptomatic = infected carrier – based on what?). Test results show ~93% of people tested WITH SYMPTOMS ARE NOT INFECTED. Less than 10% of the 7% positives will need hospitalization of any kind (down to 0.7% of PEOPLE WITH SYMPTOMS). And then what, 10% of those actually die, with co-morbidity, when the CDC is literally bribing them to call everything “corona”. 0.07% death rate of PEOPLE WITH SYMPTOMS. Now, how do they explain the numbers from Trousdale? 1299 positive out of 1344 tested = 96% POSITIVE. THEY ALL HAVE IT. 50 out of 281 staff = 18% POSITIVE – more than double the rate of people previously tested to date WITH SYMPTOMS. And they are asymptomatic at Trousdale. But how did they contract it and everyone is asymptomatic – totally unlike the previous testing? They are all “locked down” (it is a prison term after all) and more isolated than the general public aren’t they? Not picking it up at Walmart or Pilot. Who cares whether they are bordering Davidson Co. or not….why there is such a HUGE difference in results.
[…] As reported, Trousdale County had 1,344 reported COVID-19 cases at its Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility. Davidson County officials told The Tennessee Star last weekend that, yes, they did count Trousdale County and the confirmed COVID-19 numbers at its prison. […]
[…] On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Metro Nashville Health Department admitted to The Tennessee Star that Jahangir’s claim Friday that there have been 3,227 cases in “surrounding counties,” includes cases in Trousdale County, which does not border Davidson County, and whose 1,344 reported cases of coronavirus reported at the Tennessee Department of Health website as of late Sunday includes more than 1,300 cases of inmates and staff in Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility – almost all of whom are asymptomatic, as The Star reported Sunday. […]
Where is the PROOF,does anyone ever require that anymore? This is more B.S.,,,too many doctors from all over the world have blown the whistle. Everything is being labeled COVID,death certificates being altered,hospitals and ER’s are empty…it is all fear based on lies.