The Cook County Jail in Chicago has now become the largest known source of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. according to an article by the New York Times. As of last week, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has identified 238 inmates and 115 staff members who had tested positive for the virus, though this an underestimate as most of the jail’s 4,500 inmates had not yet been tested. The New York Times article also reports that across the country there have been at least 1,324 confirmed cases and 32 deaths linked to prisons and jails. These statistics, while unfortunate, are unsurprising as social distancing is nearly impossible to do in the prison setting and access to hand sanitizer, masks, and other important resources to protect oneself are limited if not unavailable altogether.
Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html