MANCHESTER, NH – One hundred inmates at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, familiarly known as the Valley Street jail, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, state officials said Tuesday.
Another 27 staff members also tested positive for COVID-19, according to Lori Shibinette, commissioner of the New Hampshire State Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS).
She said the state took over testing of the facility last Thursday. Testing is ongoing and she said she expects those numbers to change.
According to court documents, in the first nine months of the pandemic the jail tested 11 inmates for COVID-19 and only because they were being transferred to other facilities that required it. Two inmates tested positive.
The state began testing at the facility the same day a Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge issued a scathing order in which he said the administration of the jail had a “cavalier” attitude when it came to the treatment of inmates who tested positive for the virus.
Judge Charles S. Temple issued the order in the case of William James, 37, of Hudson, who was detained in the jail on charges of stalking and witness tampering in a domestic-related case. James, who had liver disease, asked the judge to release him to home confinement. Temple granted the request.
In his order, Temple described a jail where James was housed with another COVID-19 positive inmate in a cell in the classification unit where new inmates are brought in daily. There is only one ventilation system in that unit with air flowing out of the cells from a space under each door and where staff, not subjected to any COVID-19 screening, rotate in and out of the unit to other areas of the jail.
He noted the jail’s “abject failure” in identifying and appropriately isolating high-risk inmates. He said testing at the jail has been “virtually non-existent” and that although the pandemic has been ongoing for nine months only 11 inmates were ever tested for the virus. Nine of the tests were administered per court orders to transfer inmates to the New Hampshire State Hospital or the Secure Psychiatric unit at the State Prison. James was one of the two positive tests.
Shibinette revealed the number of positive cases, classified as an outbreak, at the jail during the Governor’s COVID-19 news conference Tuesday afternoon. In a news release issued later in the day by the Manchester Health Department, city health officials said during the conference it was incorrectly stated that the city’s health department was originally in charge of oversight at the jail as it pertained to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In New Hampshire, a city health department has no jurisdiction or oversight of a county correctional facility, city health officials said. Manchester and Nashua are the only two NH cities with standalone health departments and both are located in Hillsborough County; neither has authority over a county facility such as the Valley Street jail.
Manchester’s health officials investigate public health complaints and cases of communicable disease on behalf of the state; communicable disease control authority lies with the commissioner of NH DHHS, health officials pointed out.
On Dec. 23, 2020 through Jan. 1, 2021, the city health department was for the most part in daily contact with both the jail and state health officials to ensure all were working together to determine the scope of the outbreak and implement control measures.
As the scope of this investigation exceeded the initial investigation phase, which was led by the Manchester Health Department, and ultimately was declared an outbreak, the response effort — testing coordination and corrections-specific technical support – was transitioned solely to NH DHHS, which has the facility-specific expertise, resources and responsibility, according to city health officials.
Under state law, if there is an outbreak of a suspected or confirmed communicable disease, facilities are required to report it to NH DHHS. Neither city nor state health offices was notified of any illnesses of residents at the jail until they spoke Dec. 23.
City health officials said they only came to know of staff infections after the Dec. 30 court testimony.
During Tuesday’s news conference, Gov. Chris Sununu gave an estimated timeline for when certain groups and the general public will be scheduled for vaccinations, a schedule that goes through the summer.
Currently, Phase 1A is ongoing with high-risk healthcare workers, long-term care residents and first responders being vaccinated which is expected to continue through the end of January.
In Phase 1B, from January to March, vaccinations will be given to anyone age 75 and over, people with medical conditions putting them at a significant high risk, staff and residents of facilities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and correctional officers and staff members.
Phases 2A and 2B, scheduled from March to May, is for people from age 65 to 74, as well as K-12 teachers and school staff, childcare workers, and those ages 50 to 65.
Phase 3A, for people under age 50 who are medically vulnerable and at moderate risk, begins in May. Phase 3B begins at the same time and is for everyone else.
Information will also be updated on the state’s COVID-19 website.
Sununu said healthcare providers will have the discretion to say a patient should get the shot, even if he doesn’t have a condition specifically outlined in the state’s guidance.
So far, 53,675 doses were distributed with 30,035 people being administered a first dose, according to Dr. Beth Daly, chief of Infectious Disease Control. An additional 17,175 vaccines were received by the state and the same number is expected next week, she said.