A California prison inmate who spent 26 years on death row for murder has died of natural causes, the fourth so far this year in a state that hasn’t carried out an execution since 2006.
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The Illinois Department of Public Health said that four new cases of the infectious disease in Quincy are not connected to an outbreak that has affected almost 50 residents at a veterans’ home in the city.
Common sources that spread the disease are humidifiers, water misters, and other water aerating devices, all of which were shut down at the home shortly after the outbreak began according to health officials.
An outbreak of Legionnaires disease has caused 48 cases at the Illinois Veterans Home, 7 people have died.
Visiting hours for inmates in general population were expected to resume by the weekend and the prison’s kitchens should be up and running by next week, said Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for the corrections department.
The bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease thrives in warm water. Still awaiting execution are 747 others, who are housed on death row at San Quentin, in Marin County near San Francisco.
A cellblock at San Quentin State Prison in April.
Since Legionnaires has an incubation of 2-14 days, and the outbreak started in mid-August, few if any more cases at the veterans home are expected.
Specter said it would likely be about two weeks before the source of the disease is identified.
Another 85 inmates are under observation because of respiratory illness, but have not been diagnosed with Legionnaires’. The letter asked lawyers to encourage prisoners to report any symptoms of illness to medical staff as legal visits resumed Wednesday.
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Dr Nirav Shah, Illinois public health director, said that officials “do not believe there is an increased risk of Legionnaires’ disease to the Quincy community”. “Fair point”, the letter said, but noted using water to cook hot meals “is too risky at this time”. Legionnaires’ disease is not transmitted from person to person.
