After getting through much of the COVID pandemic relatively unscathed, Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen is now dealing with a large outbreak.

After confirming on Monday the existence of an increase in COVID infections within the facility, the Washington State Department of Corrections has provided further information on the scope of the outbreak.

Late Monday afternoon, the DOC website reported 206 confirmed cases of inmates at Stafford Creek, constituting 11% of the center’s 1,850 total inmate population.

The 206 reported cases constitute an increase of 121 cases from the previous reporting period on Friday, Dec. 4.

Likewise, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of cases of Stafford Creek staff that has tested positive for COVID-19. The DOC reported on Monday, 22 cases of staff members testing positive, a jump of six cases from the previous reporting date on Friday.

The total number of staff at Stafford Creek was not provided.

The number of cases associated with initial testing could still grow. “We are experiencing a delay in receiving test results from labs due to increases in community testing numbers,” DOC Interim Communication Director Susan Biller wrote in an email to The Daily World.

In response to reports that ill inmates at Stafford Creek were not receiving adequate medical care, the DOC responded by stating those reports “are not true nor are they accurate.”

“Medical treatments are being done to assist the incarcerated individuals, including providing off-site transport to elevated health care resources, when necessary,” Biller wrote.

Biller said inmates testing positive on Sunday “had been in quarantine in the H1 unit since Nov. 29.”

The DOC said that Stafford Creek has been following state protocols as instructed in the WA DOC’s Screening, Testing, Infection Control Guidelines and Outbreak Checklist since March and has also implemented serial testing “for all staff working in prison facilities as of Oct. 31,” but did not provide any specific information as to whether Stafford Creek has taken additional steps to limit further transmission within its facility currently.