MARQUETTE, MI-- Medical specialists from the Michigan National Guard are helping the Department of Corrections test U.P. prisoners for COVID-19.
Starting Monday staff will test every prisoner at the Baraga Correctional Facility, then move east across the U.P. with the goal of testing one facility each day. After Baraga the facilities to be tested include the Alger Correctional Facility, Marquette Branch Prison, the Newberry Correctional Facility, Chippewa Correctional Facility, and Kinross Correctional Facility. A total of about 7,500 prisoners will get the test.
Fifteen, three-person guard member teams will work with MDOC staff to do the testing. Guard medical specialists will be in each team and will handle sample collections. Once the samples are collected the MDOC will take them to a lab for testing. Results should be known in about 48 hours.
