Since an inmate at the federal prison in Sheridan tested positive for the coronavirus on July 2, the prison has tested all but two inmates in the past week, a federal prosecutor reported late Friday.

The two inmates refused testing and were placed in isolation.

On July 2, 218 inmates at the federal prison were tested, yielding all negative results.

Five days later, a remaining 40 inmates were tested, and the results are pending, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Hager reported to a federal judge Friday.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon had ordered the government to detail the steps taken by the prison in response to concerns raised by Oregon Federal Public Defender Lisa Hay.

Hay is representing John P. Stirling, 66, who was sentenced in May for drug smuggling and filed a petition arguing this his custody is unlawful considering the lack of safeguards to protect him from contracting coronavirus behind bars.

Hay has argued that the prisons bureau is increasing the risk of infection for all inmates by transferring inmates between facilities without testing for the disease, allowing guards to enter without being tested and failing to provide sufficient cleaning materials.

Hager, in his report, described the testing of all inmates to the creation of a prison staff contest with a prize for “hand hygiene.‘’ It’s unclear how that winner would be determined.

All staff at the prison receive temperature checks and symptom screening before entering. Any staff member with a fever, who fails any COVID-19 related health questions, or who exhibits any COVID-19 related symptoms, is not permitted to work. Staff who exhibit signs of illness are not permitted to return to the facility until their symptoms have resolved and they have been medically cleared to return to work, according to Hager’s report.

All Sheridan inmates also receive regular nurse and paramedic evaluation to check for COVID-19 symptoms, Hager wrote.

So far, the prison has offered voluntary mass testing for staff over five sessions in June and July, with 172 staff choosing to participate. All tests yielded negative results, except for two insufficient results due to a broken test tube and insufficient nasal fluid obtained. While testing is voluntary for staff, daily temperature checks and symptom screening is required for staff and anyone entering the prison.

Inmates who are new to the prison are quarantined for 14 days before being released into the general population, the prosecutor wrote.

All inmates leaving the prison are quarantined before entering the community for 14 days, “if possible,‘’ Hager’s report said. If a 14-day quarantine is not possible, the prison informs community public health officials.

In addition, the prison is conducting serial testing of inmates, like Stirling, who may have been exposed to the inmate who tested positive. This serial testing consists of a random sample of five tests per day until 14 days pass from the last exposure.

The prison is using two laboratories: the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory, a state public health lab that has returned test results to the prison by the next day, and a private lab, Quest Diagnostics, which has returned test results within three to five days, but sometimes up to seven days.

In addition, local public health officials visited the prison on Thursday to plan for and consider future mass testing of all inmates at the prison and a prison camp on site, Hager’s report said.

The prison has offered mass testing for staff over five sessions in June and July, with 172 staff choosing to participate. All staff tests have yielded negative results, except for two that were inadequate because of a broken test tube or an inadequate sample.

Though testing has been voluntary for staff, daily temperature checks and symptom screening is mandatory for all staff and anyone else entering the institution.

Staff are now working 12-hour instead of 8-hour shifts to limit staff movement. Any staff transferred from one prison with COVID-19 cases to another prison must be quarantined for two weeks.

Nationally, 94 federal inmates and one staff member have died from the coronavirus, and 2,666 inmates and 248 staff have confirmed positive test results for COVID-19, according to the Bureau of Prisons’ website.

This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.