Maryland has first prison inmate death from coronavirus

Maryland’s first prison inmate has died from coronavirus, state’s corrections department said Monday.

inmate, who was at Jessup Correctional Institution, died Saturday after having been hospitalized for several weeks, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said in a news release.

inmate was in his 60s and h serious underlying medical conditions, department said.

department has confirmed a total of 93 cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday night. y include 18 inmates and 47 correctional officers. y also include three employees in Division of Parole and Probation and 22 contractual staff, as well as one clinical health employee and two ministrative employees.

Most of cases in system are at Jessup Correctional Institution in Jessup, Maryland. facility has h 33 total cases, include 10 inmates, 13 officers and 10 contract employees. second highest number of cases have been reported at Maryland Reception, Diagstics and Classification Center in Baltimore where re have been 12 cases, including one inmate and 11 officers.

Separately, architecture firm HKS is working with Army Corps of Engineers to convert a deactivated wing of Hrstown Correctional Facility into a field hospital. firm says its team mobilized Saturday and is working 24 hours a day to open field hospital within a few weeks with 192 beds for nacute COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Maryland reported Monday morning it has confirmed at least 8,936 cases and 262 deaths so far. That marked an increase of 711 cases and 27 deaths from day before. re have have been 42,815 negative tests in state and 1,975 hospitalizations.

Maryland’s two most populous counties outside nation’s capital have most cases. Prince George’s County has h 2,205 cases, and Montgomery has h 1,756 cases.

On Sunday, Gov. Larry Hogan anunced state would start listing cases by zip code in Maryland. Of top 10 ZIP codes for cases, five were in Prince George’s County and three were in Montgomery County. ZIP code with highest number of cases — 153 — includes part of rthwest Baltimore.

For most people, coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older ults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.