Ohio's prisons agency says more than 20 death row inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 in an outbreak flaring up in just the past week.
JoEllen Smith is a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. She confirmed the first case on July 24, but by Friday told The Associated Press that the number had reached 23.
Smith says 13 of those were tested based on symptoms and 10 were tested as part of contact tracing and were asymptomatic when tested.
Smith says medical staff are monitoring the inmates, who are being quarantined and isolated under DRC coronavirus policy.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction reported on Thursday that 5,242 inmates and 953 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, following mass testing in the state's prisons.
The Marion Correctional Institution has the biggest outbreak in the country with 2,443 cases and the Pickaway Correctional Institution has the fourth biggest outbreak with 1,794 cases, according to The New York Times.
