SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — A veteran guard at San Quentin State Prison has died as a result of the coronavirus. It's the first COVID-19 death of an employee at the California lockup where a large outbreak has infected staff and inmates.

Sgt. Gilbert Polanco, an Army veteran and guard at San Quentin since 1988, died after being hospitalized for more than a month.

Of more than 260 staff members infected by the virus at San Quentin, Polanco is the first to die. At least two dozen inmates at the prison near San Francisco have died from COVID-19 complications.