Essex County now has 17 active cases of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, including five who are hospitalized.

Nine of the 17 are in the town of Moriah, according to the county Health Department. Three are in the town of North Elba, including one new one Monday, two are in Crown Point (also with one new Monday), and the towns of Keene, Schroon and Ticonderoga have one each.

Of the hospitalized people, two are new, and three are nursing home residents, according to the county Health Department’s report Monday evening. It shows one other Essex County person was discharged from a hospital.

Meanwhile, Monday’s report from Franklin County shows four inmates at the Franklin, Upstate and Bare Hill state correctional facilities — all in and around Malone — are in isolation and others in quarantine after positive coronavirus cases were discovered in these prisons over the weekend.

People are listed as “isolated” when they have tested positive for the virus or been determined to be positive by medical diagnosis. Someone is listed as “quarantined” if they are identified by contact tracing to have been in contact with a positive individual.

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Prison cases

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Numbers released by Franklin County on Monday morning show one inmate is in isolation and three are quarantined at Franklin Correctional, two are in isolation at Upstate Correctional with none quarantined, and one is in isolation at Bare Hill Correctional, with the number in quarantine there still being determined.

State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson Rachel Connors said the department is currently reporting zero positive cases at Bare Hill Correctional.

“These individuals were immediately isolated and a contact trace was conducted and those identified were quarantined and tested,” Connors wrote in an email. “Any individual that is COVID positive, isolated or quarantined as part of a contact trace is not allowed to visit.”

The latest DOCCS data, from Friday, still shows one positive inmate at Adirondack Correctional in Ray Brook. This was reported earlier this month. Data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons still shows one inmate listed as positive at the Federal Corrections Institute at Ray Brook, which was first reported Oct. 9.

On Monday, 13 prison reform advocacy groups called on the governor to grant clemency to at-risk inmates and for lawmakers to pass the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole bills, following DOCCS reporting that an 18th inmate has died from the virus in the state prison system. This inmate was at Fishkill Correctional Facility, which has seen the most deaths of any state correctional facility.

Franklin County Manager Donna Kissane, who sends the county’s daily COVID-19 numbers, said the state should consider giving some older inmates early release or community supervision, if they are determined to be at-risk and at low risk of recidivism.

“There is a vulnerable population for sure in the prison system,” Kissane said. “I think you have to take a look at the individual situation.”

Last week the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association called for the state to suspend inmate visitation at certain facilities following outbreaks of the virus at Elmira Correctional Facility and Greene Correctional Facility.

“Visitation should be immediately suspended at hotspot facilities and DOCCS should require anyone who visits an incarcerated inmate provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the last 14 days,” a press release from the union said.

“I think it would be beneficial to suspend visitations and give it some time,” Kissane said. “It would protect the employees … the inmates, as well as the visitors.”