November’s COVID-19 surge in New Hampshire saw the first outbreak of cases among inmates of the state prison system, including 10 cases in a Concord unit that treats mental illness and substance use disorders.

Although multiple prison employees had tested positive for COVID-19 before then, no evidence had surfaced indicating that the virus was present and circulating in the prison population.

Soon after, the state Corrections Department’s tweaked its testing policy. During much of the pandemic, the policy has been to test “residents who are symptomatic and any resident identified during contact-tracing to have had close, prolonged contact with an infected person.”