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Page A-12 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020
Lead found in water at Mission Creek women’s prison
By Isabella Breda
isabe/la@masoncoun1y.com
A September 2020 water sampling
found actionable levels of lead in the
water at Mission Creek Corrections
Center for Women in Belfair
Russell Kallio, a resident of Ket-
chikan, Alaska, has a friend at Mis-
sion Creek and said she’s concerned
for her well-being.
“Over the last week, we’ve been
talking back and forth about it she’s
got pretty serious concerns for her own
health,” Kallio said in a phone inter—
view. “Because she’s 52 she’s no young
spring chicken. She wants to come out
of there healthy in the next year.”
An Oct. 8 memo from the state
Department of Health to Gordon
Sprague, MCCCW plant manager,
stated that “the 90th percentile values
for the results were 0.078 milligrams
per liter (mg/L) for lead.”
These results exceeded the “lead ac-
tion level of 0.015 mg/L,” according to
the memo.
State and federal regulations re-
quire that the facility conduct public
education following exceeding the lead
action level.
“Since your system is small, we will
waive the requirement for a press re-
lease as part of your public education,”
the memo said.
On Dec. 1, a memo from Superinten-
dent Dennis Tab to all MCCCW staff,
contractors and volunteers stated the
DOH did not place any restrictions on
water use. “They only require that the
water be run and is cold prior to drink-
ing,” the memo/stated.
According to the EPA’s Lead web-
page, bathing and showering in lead-
contaminated water is safe, however,
“adults exposed to lead [in drinking
water] can suffer from cardiovascular
effects, increased blood pressure and
incidence of hypertension, decreased
kidney function, [and] reproductive
problems (in both men and women).”
A Nov. 25 memo circulated to
MCCCW staff, contractors and vol-
unteers stated that bottled water
was made available for all staff, con-
tractors, volunteers and incarcerated
individuals.
In addition to public education,
the prison is required to collect two
sets of water quality parameters, “in-
cluding pH, calcium, alkalinity, con-
ductivity and temperature,” the Oct.
8 memo stated.
Judy Gerren, public information
officer for MCCCW, said the facility
hired Confluence Engineering Group
to perform the corrosion control
study. ,
That’s the next DOH-required
step and will lead to a recommenda-
tion report for further treatment op-
tions.
County comments on outbreak at Cerrections Center
By Kirk Boxleitner
kbox/eitner@masoncounty com
David Windom, director of
Mason County Community
Services, which includes Ma-
son County Public Health,
updated the Mason County
Board of Commissioners on
the COVID-19 outbreak at
the Washington Corrections
Center in Shelton.
“They obviously fall out of
our system for case investi-
gation and contact tracing,”
Windom said during the Mon-
day meeting. “State inmates
come to Mason County first,
at the Washington Correc-
tions Center, and then they go
elsewhere. So, once they come
in, they’re quarantined for
the two weeks before they go
into the general population.”
Windom said that the re-
ported COVID case num-
bers for Mason County and
a provider of antigen tests,
which can check for both
COVID-19 and flu viruses at
the same time, to determine
whether Mason County could
obtain 10,000 kits.
Windom suggested the first
kits could be issued to the
Mason County Jail and other
“congregate living situations”
within the county.
Because antigen tests re
turn results as quickly as 20
minutes, Windom believes
that rapid testing could be
conducted as often as once
or twice per week, “so we can
stay on top of who’s actually
infectious, and we can get our
hands around this, before it
becomes something like the
corrections facility.”
According to the US. Food
Md Drugw Administration,
antigen tests usually provide
results diagnosing an active
coronavirus ’infection faster
the Washington Corrections
Center “don’t match” because
Mason County Public Health
is tracking the county’s resi-
dents, some of whom might
be working at'the WCC, “and
those are the ones we do the
case investigations and con-
tact tracing on,” in coopera-
tion with the corrections facil-
ity.
Washington Corrections Center in Shelton is suffering a COVID-19 outbreak
among in-
mates and staff. Journal photo by Lloyd Mullen
Windom noted the state
Departments of Health and
Corrections have their own
COVID—19 case number
tracking and reporting sys-
tems, although he pointed out
that the WCC is not the only
state correctional facility to
experience a sharp rise in its
COVID cases.
“But again, the ones we’re
really concerned about for
Mason County are those local
residents who work there, and
making sure we get on top of
that,” Windom said. “Which is
where antigen testing comes
in. I really want to see more
antigen testing.”
Windom reported he’d re-
cently been in touch with
than molecular tests, but
antigen tests have a higher
chance of missing an active
infection.
For that reason, if an an-
tigen test shows a negative
result, indicating that you do
not have an active coronavi-
rus infection, your health care
provider may order a molecu-
lar test to confirm the result.
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