Cell by cell the coronavirus snaked its way through San Quentin State Prison over the summer, eventually sickening 2,200 people and killing 28. The outbreak, among the deadliest in the nation’s prison system, forced officials to erect giant tents on the prison’s grounds to isolate the sickened inmates. Now, adding to its troubles, San Quentin, California’s oldest and most notorious prison, must either release or move nearly 1,500 inmates. More than 200,000 prison and jail inmates have been infected and nearly 1,300 have died from the coronavirus, according to a New York Times database. The outbreak at San Quentin, which is 168 years old, helped focus attention on how quickly the virus can spread in cramped, unsanitary conditions.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2020 22:05 UTC