More than six percent of Californians have now contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but in one San Joaquin Valley county, the case rate is almost twice as high. According to county and state data, 18,110 people in Kings County have contracted COVID-19 since March , a total that’s equivalent to more than 11 percent of residents, or one in nine. Only in two California counties, Lassen and Imperial , has COVID-19 infected a higher share of residents. One reason for Kings County’s high cumulative total is massive outbreaks in two of the county’s state-run prisons: Avenal State Prison and the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran, which together account for more than 7,000 cases among incarcerated and staff . According to the New York Times, they’re the two largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in prisons in the entire country . “That is something that is startling to think, that that many individuals in a very close proximity are all testing positive,” says Jeff Garner, executive
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