MI Prison Employee Tests Positive For Coronavirus Variant From UK

LANSING, MI — A variant of the coronavirus that state health officials have described as faster spreading has been discovered for the first time at a Michigan prison, Michigan Department of Corrections officials said.

MDOC officials on Thursday said an employee at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia had tested positive for B.1.1.7, otherwise known as the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. It is the first known case of the variant inside an MDOC facility, officials said.

“The MDOC will be taking extra steps to identify where this variant is present amongst staff and the prisoner population and we will continue to do everything we can to keep the prisoners, our staff and the community safe,” MDOC Director Heidi Washington said in a statement.

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After consultation with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, all prisoners and employees there will now be tested daily, rather than the weekly testing they have been conducting, officials said.

Officials said B.1.1.7. is believed to be more contagious, but there has been no indication that it more severe than the main COVID-19 virus that has been circulating across the United States for months.

As of Thursday morning, 61 cases of the coronavirus variant have been identified in 11 Michigan counties, including Washtenaw County (39), Wayne County (6), Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties (4 apiece), Detroit (2), and one case each in Charlevoix, Eaton, Kent, Macomb, Sanilac and Van Buren counties.

Related: Coronavirus Variant From U.K. Found In 10 Michigan Counties

The state reported its first case of the coronavirus variant on Jan. 16, when a Washtenaw County woman tested positive for B.1.1.7 after she traveled to the United Kingdom, where the variant was widely identified, officials said.

Many of the early cases had ties to the University of Michigan, prompting the university to pause its athletics for two weeks.