An outbreak of COVID-19 at Larch Correction Center wound down last week, with only two cases among inmates reported as of Monday, March 21.
In its March 18 update, the Washington State Department of Corrections reported that Larch was the only prison system in the state with a facility-wide outbreak. Larch’s two active cases dropped from eight, which were reported the prior week on March 11.
There have been 416 confirmed COVID-19 cases among inmates at the facility since the start of the pandemic, the DOC reported. Larch also had 71 cases among its staff, though none were considered active cases as of March 18.
Larch reached a high of 97 active cases among inmates on Feb. 18. The latest outbreak was the second the facility has experienced during the pandemic. The first outbreak at the facility was confirmed Dec. 30, 2020, and ran through Feb. 1, 2021. In that outbreak, 281 confirmed inmate cases were reported.
The cases at Larch among inmates made up about 3% of total cases confirmed in the prison system, the DOC reported.
