CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – A 73-year-old Mount Olive Correctional Complex inmate died on July 17, while receiving hospice care for stage 4 metastatic cancer.
A COVID-19 test administered shortly before his death has since come back positive, but the treating medical provider has determined COVID-19 not to be a contributing factor.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that a case involving a positive test for COVID-19 should not be reported as a COVID-19 death if medical opinion concludes it did not cause or contribute to the death. That is the finding of the treating medical provider contracted by the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Bureau for Public Health at the W.Va. Department of Health and Human Resources has reviewed the inmate’s case and concurs.
The inmate had twice tested negative for COVID-19: in June during the enhanced testing of Mount Olive, and within a week of his death while at an outside hospital for care. The inmate was tested again when he returned to Mount Olive, and it was this third test that came back positive last week. Following his return to the facility, he was in quarantine as required by DCR’s COVID-19 response policy.
DCR and its medical provider have coordinated with DHHR to conduct contact tracing and additional testing in accordance with DCR policy and CDC guidelines
