Jails in Adams, Weld and Morgan counties have all reported new COVID-19 outbreaks in recent days, according to state data published Wednesday, while a cluster in a Denver facility continues to grow.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Detention Facility’s outbreak stands at 96 infections among inmates; that cluster was first identified Oct. 21. The Weld cases are smaller: Six inmates cases have been confirmed, and the outbreak was reported to the state Tuesday. The Morgan County cluster has infected seven inmates and one staff member.

The outbreak in Denver’s Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center began nearly two months ago, in early September. It’s steadily grown since: As of Wednesday, it had infected 407 inmates and 14 staff members, up from 366 and 13 a week ago. Beyond the enduring outbreak in the El Paso County Detention Center, which began a year ago Wednesday, it is the largest, currently active outbreak in a correctional facility in Colorado.

A second outbreak, in the Denver County Jail, is also still active, though its caseload has held steady at 21 inmates and 1 staff member. The Jefferson County Detention Center identified a cluster on Oct. 28, but it, too, has held a steady infection level of 63 inmate cases.  

Prisons and jails have long been sites of some of the largest outbreaks in the state. An outbreak in the El Paso County Detention Center began exactly a year ago Wednesday and is still active. There are currently eight active clusters in state prisons, half of them identified this month. But thus far, all pale in comparison to incarceration outbreaks identified in the first year of the pandemic, when vaccines were not widely available. More than 12,100 of the state’s inmates have been vaccinated