TWELVE NEW COVID-19 CASES REPORTED AT PACK UNIT

  

Grimes County officials reported 12 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, all from the Wallace Pack Unit.

According to a release, the 12 patients were all male offenders who are not currently hospitalized.  According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) website, five Pack Unit employees have tested positive.

Of the county’s now 54 positive cases, officials say 28 of them are connected to the state prisons in the county.  The TDCJ website reports no cases have been confirmed at the Luther Unit, also in Grimes County, as of Wednesday afternoon.  The county, as of Wednesday, has 41 active cases, 12 reported recoveries, and one death.

According to the TDCJ, more than 400 inmates at the Pack Unit have been placed under medical restriction due to potential exposure, and the facility remains in precautionary lockdown.  One patient, 62-year-old Leonard Clerkly, died in April from what TDCJ officials called pneumonia complicated by COVID-19.

A tweet Wednesday from a Texas Tribune reporter indicated a strike team was at the facility testing inmates.

The TDCJ announced this week it is receiving tens of thousands of new tests that will be distributed to prisons across the state.  The tests have been approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and can be administered by the patients themselves.