PENDLETON — Two inmates at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute in Pendleton positive for COVID-19 died Wednesday, Aug. 26, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. 

One of the unidentified incarcerated males was between 65 and 75 years old, a press release stated, and the other was between 50 and 60 years old. Both individuals died at local hospitals, according to the release. 

They are the fourth and fifth people to die after testing positive for the virus while incarcerated by the Oregon Department of Corrections, and mark the second and third COVID deaths within EOCI.  

For deaths of inmates positive for COVID-19, the Oregon Department of Corrections is not releasing names, county of conviction or sentence length.

According to EOCI spokesman and Supervising Executive Assistant Ron Miles, 218 of the 1,700 people incarcerated at the prison have tested positive for the virus as of Aug. 26. Another 22 staff members have tested positive, Miles stated in an email, 18 of whom have since returned to work. 

More than 50% of the 431 inmates tested at EOCI have been confirmed positive, according to case numbers provided by Miles. Eight units housing roughly 800 individuals at the prison remain are in quarantine due to the virus’s spread.