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Inmates and staff at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham will be tested again for the coronavirus, the corrections commissioner announced Wednesday.
That move comes after four inmates in the facility tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, last week.
Randall Liberty, the corrections commissioner, said about 200 people will be tested each day until all inmates, staff and vendors have been retested. He said the results should be returned within 24 to 72 hours.
A man only described as in his 20s became the first inmate with the Maine prison system to test positive for the coronavirus on May 19. That was followed by three additional prisoners, all men, who tested positive. They all are incarcerated at the Windham prison, and Liberty said Wednesday they remain in isolation.
They will not be reintegrated into the general population until they are symptom-free and test negative for the virus twice, according to court documents for a lawsuit brought by two Maine inmates alleging their rights have been violated during the pandemic.
After the first positive case, universal testing began of all inmates, staff and vendors on the Windham prison campus. Out of 744 test samples, 283 staff tested negative, while just three out of 461 inmates tested positive, according to Liberty.
BDN writer Caitlin Andrews contributed to this report.