Executions Proven to Be Coronavirus Superspreader Events
Executions Proven to Be Coronavirus Superspreader Events
Medical and public health experts frequently ordered the Justice Department to delay executions as the pandemic raged on, due to the fact that executions pose as superspreader events. This is due to the close living quarters of inmates and the subpar medical care in prisons. Executions routinely resulted in infection of execution team members, media witnesses, spiritual advisers and prisoners. Out of the 47 death row inmates in the Terre Haute penitentiary, 33 tested positive following two executions. In a letter to the Department of Justice, the vice president of the American Medical Association wrote, “These are the type of high-risk superspreader events that the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been warning against throughout the pandemic.”