90 Cases of COVID-19 at House of Correction

The Milwaukee County House of Correction (HOC) has 90 incarcerated people and 19 staff members that have tested positive for COVID-19 after the entire facility was tested last week.

The HOC announced its first case of COVID-19 on April 3rd. From there, the virus spread through the facility. By the end of the month, the National Guard was on site conducting mass-testing at the facility, which found 105 cases of COVID-19 among the people incarcerated there.

The facility instituted new mitigation efforts, which included a cap on the number of individuals that can be housed in a dormitory and stepped-up cleaning and sanitation efforts. By mid-May, the county was reporting that there were no new cases of COVID-19 at the facility.

During a press briefing Thursday, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced the results of the latest round of mass-testing. He said the HOC was taking efforts to improve disease mitigation, which include stricter health screenings for staff effective immediately and new protocols for transfers from the jail to the HOC. The HVAC at the correctional facility will also be improved. Beginning after Thanksgiving all employees will be tested every two weeks.

The county is still working to “track the source of the infections” and one of the new efforts at HOC will be “enhanced contact tracing,” the county executive said.

The county maintains a dashboard that records how many cases of COVID-19 there are among people in the county’s custody. It shows that there are 28 cases of COVID-19 among those in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail and 27 cases among staff. At the Vel R. Philips Juvenile Justice Center, one child and six staff members have COVID-19.