90 cases of virus variant found at western Michigan prison

IONIA, Mich. (AP) — Officials say 90 cases of a COVID-19 variant believed to be more contagious have been found in inmates and staff at a western Michigan prison, and dozens of test results are pending.

Daily testing began at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, in Ionia, after a prison employee was found to have the B.1.1.7 variant, which first emerged in the United Kingdom.

Michigan State Police announced Tuesday that testing on 95 people found that 90 individuals, 88 of them inmates, had the variant.

The two other cases were in prison employees.

Results are pending on more than 100 lab tests conducted on others at the prison.

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