The state-run jail on Kauai became the third Hawaii correctional facility with a sizable number of active COVID-19 infections this week after 31 inmates and one staff member there tested positive, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

Another 22 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among the inmates at Maui Community Correctional Center, and MCCC had four more staff members who tested positive in recent days, according to an announcement by the department on Tuesday.

That brought the total number of MCCC staff members with active cases to 17.

Halawa Correctional Facility, which is the state’s largest prison, had 48 active COVID-19 cases and three staff members with the virus as of Tuesday.

A smaller outbreak was also reported at Oahu Community Correctional Center, which is the state’s largest jail. Ten inmates and three staff members had active COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, according to the department.

At the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua, two staff members tested positive in recent days, but there are no known active cases among the inmates.

“The Hawaii Department of Health is conducting contact tracing and investigation, but it is safe to say that the preliminary cause appears to be from the rapid community spread across our state,” said Tommy Johnson, the department’s deputy director for corrections.

“PSD is doing everything in its power to mitigate community spread into the facilities and will continue to follow the pandemic plan which is based on DOH and Centers for Disease Control guidelines for correctional facilities.”

A federal court judge last month ruled the state correctional system failed to protect inmates from infection from the coronavirus, and ordered the department to follow its own Pandemic Response Plan to limit the spread of the virus inside state prisons and jails.

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