Pekin's congressional delegation is calling on the federal Bureau of Prisons to test all staff and inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution after a COVID-19 outbreak was confirmed there last week.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, along with U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, wrote a letter to the agency's director urging testing after 74 inmates and three staff tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“While we appreciate the work of FCI Pekin to test those known to have been exposed to COVID-19, more testing is urgently needed to find asymptomatic cases, prevent the spread of the virus in this densely populated facility and protect the local community,” the lawmakers wrote.
Prisons and other congregate living facilities, like long-term care facilities for seniors, can be incubators of rapid COVID-19 spread in close quarters.
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