The staff at Adams County Pet Rescue (ACPR) have found themselves in a crowded situation.

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center (CRCC) in Connell has been placed on restricted movement to contain an outbreak of COVID-19.

As of Thursday, June 19, the medium-security complex has 30 confirmed cases among staff, 71 in the incarcerated population and 33 in isolation who have symptoms. It is estimated that 1,815 individuals are now in quarantine, meaning they were likely exposed and have been separated from healthy people.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) has directed Coyote Ridge to implement restricted movement throughout the medium-security complex, said DOC Secretary Stephen Sinclair.

The minimum-security unit is not on restricted movement at this time. However, they have been issued special medical guidance to protect at-risk facility infirmaries at both Connell and the Airway Heights center.

Because of that, the Coyote Ridge Dogs program has been suspended, and all the dogs have been returned to ACPR in Othello. Originally, the program was to continue, but the new lockdowns by DOC have put restrictions on all services at the facility.

Coyote Ridge Dogs was started in 2010. It is a prison-based program in which inmates are paired with dogs that need training. The idea is to work with dogs to make them adoptable.

Most of the problems the dogs have run from minor behavior issues to aggressions. Once trained, they are either sent back to the shelter or adopted directly from Coyote Ridge.

ACPR staff member Anita Plancarte said a total of 28 dogs were returned from CRCC, including several litters of puppies that were born at the prison. Two adults have already been adopted out.

Plancarte said she isn’t sure when the dogs will go back to Connell, so anyone who wants to adopt has to take them at the point where they are in their training.

According the Washington State Department of Health, the latest statewide situation report shows COVID-19 transmission continues to increase in eastern Washington, as well as a possible uptick in western Washington.

The situation in eastern Washington is of greatest concern, and cases and deaths in some counties are expected to increase substantially.

Pet Rescue set protocols in place when the pandemic first began. Sanitizing stations have been set up throughout the building, as well as at the front entrance. A curbside adoption program has been designed to limit public access to the facility.