Belize Central Prison is Now COVID-19 Free!
The Belize Central Prison is now COVID-19 free. C.E.O. of the Kolbe Foundation Virgilio Murillo told News Five today that the prison has zero active cases. This is a significant achievement for Murillo and his teams since the first five infections in early October. That was followed by ninety additional cases on October twenty-seventh. A total of eight hundred and forty-four tests were conducted which resulted in one hundred and ninety-seven confirmed cases. Twelve staff members, eleven men, and one woman were infected. One hundred and eighty-five inmates, twelve female, and one hundred and seventy-three males were positive. Murillo says that the lockdown played a crucial role in containing the spread and that COVID preventative measures are still being followed as it is expected that the virus will present itself once again behind prison walls.
Virgilio Murillo
Virgilio Murillo, C.E.O., Kolbe Foundation
“I will never down play the twenty one days lock down. Remember when we did that twenty one day what prompted that was that ninety cases out of a hundred and eighty six tests that were conducted. So I will not downplay that because it certainly allowed us to let the virus dissipate. That is what I will attribute the tremendous success in turning it around for the prison as of this point. This is not to say that we will be able to keep it out of the prison. There might very well be a time when it comes back in and we will have to go back into mitigating mode as well. As it is right now we are back at COVID preventative mode with all the COVID preventative measures such as the hand hygiene, wearing of the face mask, the temperature check and what have you. But certainly the twenty one days lock down where we controlled all movements play a significant role in making that happen.”
Hipolito Novelo
“What about visitations going forward now?”
Virgilio Murillo
“Well like I said last week the government currently has a curfew for twenty one days and I want to make sure that whatever the prison does is in sync with what the government does. This thing is exploding out of proportion in the society and we don’t need that in the prison any at all. So I will wait it out for the next twenty one days.”
