An inmate at a prison in northeast Colorado where there has been a large outbreak of the new coronavirus has died.
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The 86-year-old man was taken from the Sterling Correctional Facility to a hospital on Monday after becoming ill with symptoms of the virus, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. He died on Friday.
The inmate was tested for coronavirus, prisons officials said. Annie Skinner, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, refused to say whether the test was positive.
“I cannot provide any additional information about the inmate,” she said.
The man was housed on the east side of the 2,500-inmate facility, which is where the coronavirus outbreak has been centered.
If his death is linked to the coronavirus, the man would become the first prison inmate in Colorado to die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. An inmate at the Weld County jail died from the virus last month.
About 250 inmates at Sterling Correctional Facility have tested positive for coronavirus.
“The department will not be releasing his name at this time,” the Department of Corrections said in a news release. “The inmate’s name and official cause of death will come from the coroner’s office.”