Mississippi County reports 20 inmates at SECC test positive for COVID-19

As of Thursday night, at least 20 inmates at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Mississippi County Health Department.

The announcement was made in a Facebook post Thursday night, one day after more than 100 inmates and employees of the prison were tested for COVID-19.

The post also mentioned three employees at the prison facility who previously tested positive, and two positive tests that were described as "unknown" in the post.

"As of right now, from the information the health department has received, there has been a total of 20 inmates that have tested positive for COVID 19, 3 employees and 2 unknown. I'm not at this time sure if the unknowns are inmates or employees based on the information I have received," the post stated.

According to the post, the positive cases will be reported in Mississippi County data on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services website because the inmates are residents of Mississippi County.

Detailed information about testing at the prison facility was released later Thursday night by Missouri Department of Corrections communications director Karen Pojmann in a news release.

"The Missouri Department of Corrections has received notification that 19 offenders in a quarantined housing wing at Southeast Correctional Center (SECC) have tested positive for COVID-19," the release stated.

A total of 146 people were tested after three residents of the wing tested positive earlier this week. All 64 housing wing residents were tested, according to the department, and none of the 82 staff members tested have resulted positive.