First Tennessee prisoner dies from Covid-19

NASHVILLE (WDEF) – Tennessee continues to grapple with Covid-19 cases in prisons.

The state is in the middle of testing every single state prisoner and staff member in Tennessee.

And as they do so, they have registered their first prisoner fatality.

The testing follows a major outbreak at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility near the Kentucky border, which followed the Bledsoe County Correctional outbreak nearer to us.

Trousdale now has 1285 positive tests, compared to the 586 at Bledsoe.

And the fatality came from Trousdale.

A 67 year old man with underlying conditions died Monday morning.

Six other state prisoners are in the hospital and one of them is in serious condition.

Health Department Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey says that the prisoners who have tested positive are unusually healthy, 98% are not showing symptoms.

But the infection rates have been very high.

She says as the prison test results start coming in this week, we can expect to see a spike in the number of positive cases.

But that does not reflect the status of the virus in the general population.

Meanwhile, in Hamilton County, the Sheriff’s Office has also tested all of their local inmates at the jail after reporting a positive case last week from a transfer from Bledsoe.

All of the inmates tested clean, and even the transfer was re-tested and came up negative.