3rd virus case reported among Arizona’s 42,000 prisoners

PHOENIX (AP) — A third case of the coronavirus has been reported among Arizona’s 42,000 prison inmates.

Corrections officials said late Thursday that an inmate at the state prison in Florence has tested positive. Earlier this week, officials said an inmate in Tucson and another in Marana also tested positive.

The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry have repeatedly declined to say whether any prison employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

Across Arizona, 3,100 coronavirus cases resulting in 97 deaths were reported as of Friday.

For most people, the 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. The vast majority of people recover.

Jails, detention centers and prisons are believed to be vulnerable to a coronavirus outbreak because inmates with compromised health live in close quarters and jail employees cycle in and out of those facilities each day.

The Department of Corrections has previously said it’s separating inmates with flu symptoms from the general prison population, providing soap to inmates for cleaning housing areas and practicing good hygiene, and waiving a $4 medical copayment for inmates with cold and flu symptoms.

Advocates for inmates have complained that corrections officials haven’t consistently followed COVID-19 prevention guidelines and have done an inadequate job of keeping the public informed on those efforts.

While dozens of nonviolent inmates have been released from county jails in Arizona as part of COVID-19 prevention efforts, Gov. Doug Ducey has ruled out early release for vulnerable inmates in state prisons.

In other developments: — The Flagstaff Medical Center has brought in a refrigerated truck to be ready for use as a temporary morgue to store dead bodies, KNXV-TV reported. The hospital, the largest in northern Arizona, hasn’t yet placed any bodies inside the truck, the station reported.

Coconino County and neighboring Navajo County have each reported hundreds of coronavirus cases, and the hospital’s website said Friday that it had 45 patients who had tested positive for coronavirus and an additional 27 whose results were pending.

— The coronavirus outbreak has prompted the Arizona Supreme Court to schedule remote legal arguments in six cases with attorneys appearing through video conferencing.

The arrangement is a departure from the court’s standard practice of hearing arguments in its Phoenix courtroom or alternative locations such as law schools. The court said Thursday it has scheduled three arguments on April 14 and three more April 16.

The justices will be in the courtroom except for a former justice and a Court of Appeals judge filling in for justices who recused themselves from one or more cases. The fill-in justices will be in Tucson and participate remotely.

With six other justices in the courtroom each day, it will be temporarily reconfigured to ensure social distancing, the court said in a statement.