COVID-19 outbreak growing at EMDC

A COVID-19 outbreak at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre is prompting calls for more to be done to protect inmates and staff.

A COVID-19 outbreak at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) is prompting calls for more to be done to protect inmates and staff.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit has confirmed that since Jan. 4, 83 inmates and 48 staff have tested positive. As of Friday, 39 inmate cases and seven staff cases remain active.

The growing number of cases is causing concerns, and calls for action to make the jail safer.

Lawyer Kevin Egan, who has represented a number the families of inmates who have died at the facility, isn't surprised by the situation.

"It's kind of inevitable when you have an aged infrastructure like EMDC with a closed ventilation system…two to three to a cell that's designed to hold one person, and have a pandemic with such a contagious disease."

Egan has called the facility a "petri dish" since the pandemic started.

"It's something the government ought to have been aware of and ought to have taken steps to prevent and they haven't done that," he said.