The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has opened an outbreak investigation at the Two Bridges Regional Jail.
Twenty-seven prisoners and three staff members have tested positive for the virus at the Wiscasset-based jail as of Wednesday, according to a Maine CDC spokesperson. The jail serves Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties.
Two Bridges Regional Jail is the latest regional correctional facility to be hit with COVID-19. Outbreaks were reported at both the Cumberland County Jail and the Penobscot County Jail within the last month.
Due to its own outbreak, the Cumberland County Jail was diverting all new arrests made in the county to Two Bridges Regional Jail and the York County Jail in Alfred.
Regional jails are operated by county governments. However, the Maine Department of Corrections has also been grappling with outbreaks in the state’s correctional facilities in recent weeks.
On Friday, the DOC announced that five female prisoners at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham tested positive for COVID-19. This followed an outbreak reported at the Maine State Prison in Warren last month.
A Department of Corrections spokesperson has not responded to a request for an update on these two outbreaks.