County sees new spike in cases at Buckingham Correctional Center

Published 10:02 am Saturday, May 9, 2020

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As Virginia moves forward to restart parts of the economy on Friday, two prison outbreaks continue to push Buckingham County COVID-19 cases numbers to some of the worst in the state per capita.

Buckingham Correctional Center (BCC) had a dramatic increase in positive COVID-19 cases Friday as the outbreak that has resulted in the death of one inmate at the facility continues.

After only listing a total of 13 offenders who tested positive for the virus after the Thursday evening update, BCC now reports 55 inmates who have tested positive. The increase could be related to point prevalence testing where DOC officials planned to test everyone in the facility as a way to gauge the intensity of the outbreak. Many inmates at other facilities who test positive have shown no symptoms of the virus at the time of testing positive. Three inmates are listed as being hospitalized from the BCC facility. The number of staff members at BCC who have tested positive for COVID-19 has risen from three to four.

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The outbreak at the Dillwyn Correctional Center has seemed to stabilize at 203 cases for inmates and eight staff members. Six inmates from Dillwyn as listed as being hospitalized.

The two outbreaks at the prisons have pushed Buckingham County’s COVID-19 case numbers to some of the worst per capita in the state. Looking at the case numbers on a case per 100,000 person basis, Buckingham County is third in the state behind Accomack County, which is battling an outbreak at poultry processing plants and Richmond County.

The total number of cases in Buckingham County moved from 225 on Friday morning to 246 Saturday. The numbers reported from the Virginia Department of Health continue to lag behind the numbers from the Department of Corrections. A more accurate number of cases in Buckingham County would be closer to 280.

Prince Edward County cases continue to inch forward to 66, up one from Friday. Lunenburg County moved up one case to six cases and Charlotte County totals increased to 12 cases.

The overall state totals are now up 23,196 cases with 827 death and 3,164 hospitalizations. According to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association dashboard, 3,124 patients have recovered from the virus.