'Shocking, Heartbreaking' Coronavirus Outbreak In Calif. Prison Alarms Health Experts
Doctors warn that a fast-moving outbreak at San Quentin, California's oldest prison, may hurt the wider community and health care system.
Updated at 2:06 p.m. ET
An explosion of coronavirus infections at California's San Quentin State Prison, the state's oldest, has public health officials there worried about its impact on prisoners, staff and the wider hospital system in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Shocking, heartbreaking are certainly the words I would use to describe it," said David Sears, a physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He recently toured San Quentin and warned officials about just such an outbreak.
"It's devastating how fast this has moved through the prison," he said.
There were no inmate coronavirus cases at the prison throughout March, April And the numbers are rising fast.
