DOVER, Del.- The Delaware Department of Correction on Wednesday announced the COVID-related death of a 40-year-old inmate from Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown.
DOC officials said Michael Harris died on Tuesday evening, Jan. 19, at Beebe Hospital from complications from chronic illnesses, including asthma, diabetes, chronic pain syndrome, and COVID-19.
Harris received a rapid COVID-19 test at SCI on Jan. 10 and tested positive after displaying symptoms of illness, according to the DOC. He was immediately moved to the SCI COVID-19 Treatment Center where inmate patients receive round-the-clock monitoring and care. On Jan. 13 as his symptoms progressed, Harris was admitted to Beebe Hospital for additional treatment and monitoring. On Jan. 19, Harris's condition suddenly deteriorated and officials said he was place on a ventilator. Harris was pronounced dead by hospital staff at 11:10 p.m. on Jan. 19.
Harris's body was released to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science to determine cause of death. Officials said Harris, from Dover, Del., had been in and out of DOC custody for the past 23 years. Most recently, he had been in DOC custody since February 2020 and was found guilty on Dec. 16, 2020 of Manufacturing/Delivery/Possession with the Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by one year of Level IV DOC Supervision.
Over the past 11 weeks, as community spread has spiked across Delaware, the DOC said it has experienced elevated numbers of COVID-19 cases. Proactive screening and testing identified initial clusters of COVID-19 cases in early November among inmates at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center and Baylor Women's Correctional Institution, followed by clusters of cases at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution and Sussex Correctional Institution later in November, and more recently a cluster of cases at Plummer Community Corrections Center. Officials said aggressive proactive testing, quarantine, and contact tracing have continued, with 5,172 inmate COVID-19 tests administered since Nov. 1 on top of ongoing screening, quarantine, treatment, and cleaning practices.
The DOC provided the following inmate COVID-19 case data as of Jan. 19, 2021:
- Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10,571 inmate COVID-19 tests have been administered.
- 1,792 inmates have recovered from COVID-19 since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, including 1,242 inmate recoveries since the November clusters were first identified.
- 84 inmates have active COVID-19 infection, including 21 inmates who are symptomatic. Two inmate COVID-19 patients are hospitalized and no inmate patients are on a ventilator.
- Over the past four months (since mid-September) more than 1,300 inmates have recovered from COVID-19, while two inmates have died from COVID-related complications.
- Since April there have been a total of 13 COVID-related inmate deaths (including Harris), including 12 from complications from serious chronic diseases and COVID-19 and one from COVID-19.