Rapid covid testing bakersfield6/30/2023 ![]() Kern County, where Mesa Verde is located, has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 in the state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Ĭhhabria also ordered rapid, point-of-care testing - instead of tests that must be sent to a lab - for dozens of detainees who had not yet been confirmed with the coronavirus as of late last week, to try to contain the outbreak.Ĭourt documents show the ICE office in Bakersfield received enough rapid test kits for all detainees at Mesa Verde as of Aug. An additional 29, who sought testing on their own, have also been diagnosed with the coronavirus since mid-June, including some who already recovered and were cleared to work, said GEO attorney Susan Coleman, during a hearing Tuesday morning with Chhabria. ![]() Since then, two staffers with GEO were confirmed with COVID-19. ![]() The judge cited the high risk of virus transmission between the detention center and the surrounding community. Last week, as COVID-19 cases grew, Chhabria expanded his directive to include regular testing for about 130 staffers, such as guards and health care providers, who come in and out of the facility. “It’s not only the social distancing that is now facilitated, but the fact that their status is being monitored … that’s just not happening elsewhere.” “The testing in Mesa Verde through this court’s intervention is a key difference between Mesa Verde and other detention centers in the country,” said Bree Bernwanger, with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, who represents detainees in the case. ICE field office director David Jennings, who oversees the facility, said at the time they had no place to segregate detainees who refused testing or were confirmed positive. ![]() Chhabria intervened after ICE emails in May - unearthed during litigation - showed immigration officials opposed widespread testing for the coronavirus at Mesa Verde. ![]()
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