COVID-19: 1,000 inmates test positive in California

The number of COVID - 19 cases has exploded in one of California ’ s oldest prisons , San Quentin , as more than 1 , 000 inmates have tested positive for the virus , authorities in the US state announced Tuesday.

“ That is our deep area of focus and concern right now , ” said Governor Gavin Newsom , noting that 42 percent of the some 3 , 500 inmates at San Quentin , near San Francisco , are considered “ medically vulnerable . ”

Unlike other penitentiaries in California , San Quentin State Prison had largely been spared the ravages of coronavirus until the beginning of June . But the transfer of inmates from prisons gravely affected by the virus , such as the California Institution for Men in Chino, opened the floodgates .

“ Unfortunately , they arrived untested and were placed within San Quentin and really kind of seeded an outbreak in a second state facility , ” Matt Willis , the health director for Marin County, where San Quentin is located , told NPR radio .

The detention center in Chino, near Los Angeles , was a known COVID - 19 hotspot since the start of the pandemic . More than 500 inmates there have so far tested positive for the virus , and seven have died .

San Quentin prison currently makes up half of the recorded cases of COVID - 19 in prisons throughout California , which has a total incarcerated population of about 113, 000 people .

California is the most populated US state as well as one of the hardest - hit by the coronavirus , with more than 200, 000 confirmed cases and nearly 6 , 000 deaths .