COVID-19 Hotspot Is An Ohio Prison

(Marion, OH) - The nation's biggest-known coronavirus hot spot is at the Marion Correctional Institution, 117 miles southwest of Cleveland.

More than 80 percent of the 2,500 inmate population has tested positive for COVID-19, making the prison, per capita, the spot in the nation with the biggest-known percentage of cases.

Every inmate in Marion, and two other Ohio prisons, are being tested for COVID-19.

One inmate, Michael Powell, told 3 News he has tested positive, and he and other inmates are being held together in common areas, not being able to social distance. He calls it "Pandemonium in the pandemic."

Another inmate, Jonathan White, also says there's no social distancing, telling cleveland.com, "You can't get away from it."

Inmates told cleveland.com they were tested for coronavirus, then were sent back into the general population, while waiting for test results, giving the virus more time to be transmitted to others.

(Photo courtesy Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction)

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