By Michael R. McFall
Deseret Morning News
GUNNISON, Utah — A flu that caused prison officials to quarantine some prisoners was not swine flu after all.
When six Utah State Prison inmates and a Central Utah Correctional Facility inmate showed symptoms for novel H1N1 influenza last Friday, both prisons put them in quarantine. After a weekend-long flu scare, the prison administration can relax now that six of the tests came back negative. The seventh, though still waiting on his results in the Utah State Prison infirmary, seems to have completely recovered, Welling said. He showed flu-like symptoms during his processing and has not been exposed to the rest of the population.
“This relieves a lot of tension. Something like this could have easily spread,” said prison spokeswoman Angie Welling.
The virus has a 43 percent transfer rate between those living in the same household, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Since the prison is basically one giant household, the 80-prisoner dormitory where four of the five inmates live in was quarantined from the rest of the 400-inmate prison.
The cleared inmates have now been allowed to return to their living quarters.
Welling said the flu scare was a good chance for the prison to test its emergency response. After canceling visitation and outdoor activities and keeping each suspected prisoner away from their comrades, she believes the prison passed. Welling suspects that if H1N1 symptoms resurface within the prison’s walls, the prison plans to respond the same way it did over the weekend.
Visitors, who were forbidden from entering the prison since Friday, are now being allowed. However, visitors will still be screened for flu-like symptoms, and anyone who is suspected of being infected will not be allowed inside. Outdoor activities, taken away during quarantine, have also returned to the inmates’ schedule.
According to the Department of Health, 95 percent of all flu cases in Utah are swine flu. Welling said prisoners contract seasonal strains of influenza periodically each year. The prisons reacted with immediate quarantines and canceled programs because they “have to be careful as possible” dealing with a virus that spreads quickly and has claimed eight Utah lives so far, Welling said.
Copyright 2009 The Deseret News Publishing Co.