SALEM — A federal judge has ruled that a suit can proceed against the governor and state correctional officials alleging they’ve failed to protect prison inmates from the spread of the coronavirus.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman found that state leaders can face liability claims if they didn’t carry out safety measures according to policies adopted to stem the tide of COVID-19.

Those include ensuring that inmates and staff have worn masks when required, screening employees for COVID-19 symptoms consistent with department policy, training staff on adequate sanitation and disinfection practices, enforcing social distancing policies, testing those with symptoms and quarantining inmates with symptoms pending their tests or after transfers from prisons where they had exposure to others who tested positive for the virus.

The judge, though, dismissed the suit’s objections to canceling drug and alcohol treatment for inmates as a precaution or the Department of Corrections decision to use segregation units to house inmates who tested positive for COVID-19.

One former inmate and six current inmates filed the suit. Their lawyers allege that the state violated the inmates’ Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment by failing to provide adequate health care during the pandemic and by operating prisons without the capacity to treat, test, or prevent spread of the coronavirus. The suit also alleges state corrections officials were negligent in not carrying out proper preventive measures.

As of Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1,641 adult inmates have tested positive and 19 have died from the coronavirus, according to the judge’s opinion. Additionally, 458 state corrections staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Only one corrections facility, the South Fork Forest Camp, has reported no confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates or staff.

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.