A Hawaii inmate has died at a privately owned prison in Arizona that has experienced an outbreak of the coronavirus, Hawaii officials said.
A 61-year-old man was found unresponsive in his bed at the Saguaro Correctional Center on Thursday morning and was pronounced dead shortly afterward, Hawaii Department of Public Safety officials said. The cause of death for the 61-year-old man has not yet been determined.
The man’s name was not immediately released.
The prison has had 65 Hawaii prisoners test positive for the coronavirus, KGMB-TV reported.
The state Department of Public Safety said a complete quarantine of the Hawaii population at the prison was not implemented until Thursday, when mass testing of the facility's 1,082 inmates started. Test results are still pending for more than 1,011 prisoners, state public safety officials said.
A request for comment made by KGMB-TV to the Saguaro Correctional Center and the prison’s operator CoreCivic was not immediately returned.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
