California lawmakers ask for federal assistance for coronavirus outbreak at Lompoc prison

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Central Coast Representative Salud Carbajal, Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Dianne Feinstein sent a letter Wednesday to the Bureau of Prisons requesting additional aid for the coronavirus outbreak at the Lompoc federal prison.

It is the largest outbreak in the US prison system.

The California lawmakers are requesting approval for a 50-bed mobile hospital. They want the hospital fully staffed and with ventilators.

The lawmakers also requested more protective equipment for all staff.

Representative Carbajal said the hospital needs to be built as soon as possible. He says four to six weeks from now is not soon enough.

Santa Barbara County hopes to have an initial hospital operation with 11 rooms started within two weeks. They hope to expand to 100 beds.

Representative Carbajal said "to the extent that we can alleviate the stress on the broader hospital bed capacity in our county, the better it will be for the general public."

Right now, the Lompoc prison has 68 inmate cases. Two of those cases are new. 13 inmates are hospitalized with two in the ICU.

They have 25 employee cases with one still hospitalized. With a total of 93 cases, that's around 28 percent of cases in the county.

The county is collecting demographic data of the cases.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons says they are speaking with congress on the issue.