Allegheny County Jail to begin testing newly incarcerated inmates for covid

All people entering Allegheny County Jail to be incarcerated will be tested for covid-19 beginning April 12, according to court records filed this week.

The jail will offer coronavirus tests on at least two occasions to new inmates prior to being transferred out of intake housing. A negative test will be required before an inmate can be placed in the general population or otherwise transferred out of intake housing.

Those who refuse testing will be quarantined.

Covid-19 cases in the jail had been climbing in recent months. On March 1, 76 inmates tested positive for covid-19, with more tests pending and several pods in full isolation or under quarantine.

If a person is symptomatic but receives a negative test result, they will be given a PCR nasal swab test. If a person is asymptomatic and receives a positive test result, they also will be administered a PCR test. PCR tests are considered the most accurate test for covid-19.

A group of inmates sued the jail last year over safety concerns when the pandemic began.

“We’re very happy that the jail has agreed to take this step,” said Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, managing attorney for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and co-counsel representing inmates in this case. “We think it’s a very necessary public health measure. Preventing outbreaks within the jail is important to ensuring community health.”

One of the easiest ways for covid-19 to begin spreading within the jail is by allowing someone with covid-19 to enter the jail, Morgan-Kurtz said. This could happen even with the jail’s previous quarantine system, in which newly incarcerated individuals were in quarantine, but still interacting with others, including staff. Only inmates who were symptomatic while in quarantine would be tested.

“Now people are going to be given the rapid test as soon as they arrive so they can be quickly moved from quarantine to isolation if they are positive,” she said.

Morgan-Kurtz said outbreaks in the jail can impact the surrounding community, as staff members are coming in and out of the jail and taking the virus with them.

“(Jails) are this place where infectious diseases run completely amok and spread,” she said. “Staff brings it in and out, and it has a really negative impact on public health.”

A request from lawyers for inmates to require non-vaccinated employees to be reassigned to duties that do not involve direct contact with incarcerated individuals was withdrawn, according to court records.

As of March 4, about 25% of staff at the jail had refused to be vaccinated for covid-19.

Morgan-Kurtz said her group is still working with the jail regarding concerns about unvaccinated staff members working directly with inmates.

“One of the reasons we didn’t have an agreement yet on that issue is because there’s a lot of complicated matters,” she said. “There are a lot of other concerns with employment and people’s rights to choose their health care. It’s certainly an issue we have our eye on.”

She said the group also will be working to ensure incarcerated individuals have access to covid-19 vaccines once they are eligible.