The once hardest hit county in the bay area is noticing a worrisome rise in covid19 cases. The covid cases at san quinten prison continue to surge. How it happened and what it means for the marin county hospitals. The 49ers are now flying a black lives matter flag at levi stadium. Some say weve come a long way, others say its not good enough. Temperatures on the rise tomorrow. Ill show you who will feel the heat. Abc7 news at 11 00 starting right now. Building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. Tonight, the coronavirus outbreak at san quinten prison is showing no signs of slowing. Right now, more than 10 of the prison population is infected. Kate larson spoke with officials who say they warned this could happen. Kate . Reporter dan, ama, over the weekend, there were about 100 cases at the prison. Then yesterday, more than 300 covid cases. And now today, according to data on the cdc website, 407 inmates and 47 Staff Members are infected, bringing the case
Particularly as our local Hospital Systems are threatened by being overwhelmed. Reporter mark lavigne represents marin county. There are 4,000 staff and inmates at san quinten, and the covid outbreak will likely top 800 people. If the Corrections Department planned ahead of time, if they had listened to Public Health protocols, we wouldnt be in this situation. I am concerned that Health Professionals dont have Decision Making authority at cdcr. Those that do may have mad bad decisions. Prisons are a setup for outbreaks off the bat. You have large numbers of people, very close confine sent. Reporter dr. Matt will sis the Public County Health officer. As soon as the pandemic began, one of the first concerns was reaching out to san quinten. We were told very clearly that this is not part of our jurisdiction. Reporter according to the department of corrections, san quentin was virus free until late may. Willis says the surge started after inmates were transferred from chino to san quinten