Florida has a prison population with a rising number of coronavirus cases, but the prison workers themselves will be the first to benefit from the protective masks. The prisoners will be the next in line to receive them across all of its 143 facilities.
"It's critical we take all precautions necessary to minimize the potential risk to the inmate population and staff charged with their care and custody," FDC Secretary Mark Inch said in a."Due to already existing clothing manufacturing infrastructure, FDC and PRIDE are uniquely situated to respond quickly to the agency's initial high demand for cloth face coverings."
Correctional officers, probation officers and staff in high-risk geographic areas will b the first to receive the masks, followed by facilities with large at-risk inmate populations. "But over the next two weeks, we hope to have all our staff and your loved ones in cloth face coverings," the."We have sufficient protective equipment for inmates displaying symptoms, and for those staff that work in direct contact with those in medical isolation."
The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China during late 2019, and by April 11, nearly 1.8 million people worldwide have tested positive for the virus, and there have been more than 108,000 deaths around the globe.
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