State of New Jersey "Protecting Public Safety by Changing Offender Behavior" |
Commissioner Victoria L. Kuhn, Esq. |
VISITATION AND MITIGATION UPDATE
New Jersey Department of Corrections facilities remain under pre-pandemic indoor, contact visitation guidelines.
As of Sept. 12, 2023 there is a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine. All incarcerated persons will be offered the vaccine, either individually or at a pop-up clinic in NJDOC facilities. Per CDC guidance, routine testing of asymptomatic incarcerated persons is no longer indicated.
The signs and symptoms of COVID-19 present at illness onset vary, from no symptoms to one of more of the following: fever, headache, chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, myalgia, headache new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea. Incarcerated persons presenting with symptoms will be placed in isolation and tested for COVID-19.
Testing will be done on any incarcerated person who presents to the healthcare provider with any symptoms suspicious for COVID, and will be placed in isolation immediately.
Contacts of a positive person will be tested in accordance with CDC guidelines.
No testing will be done when receiving new admissions from a county where hospital admission levels are low or medium. Testing will occur when receiving intakes from a county where hospital admission levels are high.
Masking for incarcerated persons, staff and visitors is optional but may be required depending on facility or area transmission rates.
Employees should get tested in the community if they experience symptoms.
MITIGATION GUIDELINES (Updated Feb. 20, 2023)
Guidelines for staff and incarcerated person COVID-19 mitigation are developed based on CDC recommendations. All updates are in consultation with the Health Service Unit, Rutgers University contracted healthcare provider, and the New Jersey Department of Health. Continual monitoring and data trending of NJDOC incarcerated persons, staff, and community spread levels have additionally informed these decisions.
The following measures are required:
TESTING
Per recent CDC guidance, routine weekly asymptomatic testing will be suspended for all incarcerated persons.
QUARANTINE
Per recent CDC guidance, contacts of COVID positive individuals will no longer be routinely quarantined. Instead, contacts determined by proximity to positive individuals (e.g., bunkmate) or through contact tracing will be tested on or after day five (from the date of last exposure). In addition, contacts should be given surgical masks and strongly advised to wear a mask whenever outside sleeping areas for ten days from the date of exposure.
In circumstances where the need for non-routine quarantine arises, CDC guidance will be used to determine quarantine parameters. Such considerations include cohort size, testing, and masking.
SANITIZING
Frequent sanitizing of common areas is required.
MASKING AND PPE
GENERAL
Staff should not report to work if they are sick.