WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. - The Worcester County House of Corrections (WCHC) is on a medical lockdown after a recent spike in COVID cases.

WCHC Superintendent David Tuttle says about a week ago there were 75 positive cases. They're not allowing any visitors, holding any classes or allowing inmates to move around the facility. They've also cut the staff in half in some areas to limit the number of people in the facility. 

Tuttle says this is the second spike they've had since the beginning of the pandemic and says they were prepared.

"We've been dealing with COVID since March of 2020 now, so the staff here do a great job. We kind of have it down to a little bit of a science," Tuttle said. "What's nice, too, is we have all the tools to combat it. We just got 4,000 rapid tests in recently, we do PCR tests on site we have all the PPE we need to manage COVID in the jail."

Tuttle says they've done almost 600 tests in the last week between inmates and staff. He says they hope to come out of quarantine on Thanksgiving.