Nearly 14% of the population of Lafayette County, Florida, a small rural county in the northern part of the state, has at some point during the pandemic contracted coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH).
The population of Lafayette County is 8,744, and 1,213 people have had Covid-19, per FLDOH. The FLDOH also reports the following:
- About 87% of those infected are male.
- 59% are between the age of 25 and 44.
- 57% are White, 12% are Hispanic and 28% are Black.
More on this: Lafayette is the Florida county with the highest number of infections per capita in the state. It even surpasses Miami-Dade County, which has been considered the epicenter of the crisis. In Miami-Dade, nearly 6% of the population has at some point contracted Covid-19, per the FLDOH.
So why has such a high percent of the population in Lafayette County, Florida contracted the coronavirus? The Mayo Annex Correctional Institution in Lafayette County has reported 954 infections in inmates, according to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). In August, the FDC announced an outbreak of 639 inmates at the facility, which houses about 1,400 inmates.
Kerry Waldron, Florida Department of Health Administrator for Lafayette and Suwannee Counties said a large portion of the infections are related to a correctional facility. “A high percentage of those incarcerated are between the ages of 25 and 44,” Waldron said.
One inmate has died at the Mayo Annex facility, according to the FLDOH. So far during the pandemic, 111 inmates have died in Florida prisons, per the FDC.