Outbreak of COVID-19 reported at Federal Medical Center in Lexington: 33 inmates positive
An outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington led to a sharp increase in Fayette County’s COVID-19 cases Friday, when the city had settled into a period of relatively few new cases.
At least 33 inmates at the Federal Medical Center, a federal prison based in Lexington, have tested positive for the virus, as has one staffer who is a Lexington resident, according to Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. The center has a total of 1,456 inmates according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“We are conducting routine case investigation and contract tracing for those reported Fayette County residents who have tested positive and who work at this facility, as we would for others who test positive in the community, in order to limit spread of disease,” said Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, Lexington’s commissioner of health. “Our health department has been in communication with the facility and is willing to help with guidance and other potential needs.”
There are now a total of 283 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lexington, nine of whom have died.
The virus has spread quickly through long-term facilities like the Federal Medical Center across the country. In Muhlenberg County, an outbreak at Green River Correctional Facility led to the entire prison being tested (around 1,200 tests). While most of those results have not come in, at least 65 inmates and staff at the facility have tested positive, according to the Muhlenberg County Health Department.
Lexington’s long-term care facilities have been relatively spared from the coronavirus up until Friday’s announcement. Just two nursing homes in Fayette County had a combined total of three cases of COVID-19 as of Friday. Other nursing homes in the state have seen a rapid spread of the disease, and nursing homes account for 51 percent of the state’s 248 COVID-19 deaths.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 7:09 PM.
