4 workers at Chester County jail test positive for coronavirus, sheriff says
Four employees at the Chester County jail have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said.
The workers tested positive in late July and early this month, said Grant Suskin, spokesperson for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.
Two of the workers have returned to work after a two-week quarantine period, and the two others remain in quarantine, Suskin said.
The jail employees 30 people, Suskin said.
Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey said his office has taken steps since March to ensure the safety of staff and inmates.
“Just because we are cops, doesn’t mean that somewhere someone won’t be exposed,” Dorsey said.
Confirmed cases in Chester County have continued to rise in recent weeks, reporting its highest daily case count on Saturday, with 24. As of Thursday morning, the county has had more than 700 positive cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Dorsey said as a result of the employees’ tests, jail officials rearranged schedules to make sure inmates, staff, and the public remain safe.
“Our priority since the pandemic began is to keep a safe environment for the inmates and the people who work at the detention center,” Dorsey said.
At the jails in York and Lancaster counties, no staff members are currently confirmed to have coronavirus, according to officials at the sheriff’s office in both counties.
The York County Sheriff’s Office earlier in the pandemic had five staff members test positive, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the agency.
Over the past five months, some officers have been put on preventive quarantine after potential exposure to the virus, but none have tested positive, Faris said.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has had two staff members and one contract worker at the jail test positive since the coronavirus pandemic started, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the agency. The last worker confirmed to have the virus tested positive in early July.
At that time, all other workers on the same shift and the inmates in the jail were tested, Barfield said.
All three jails have halted in-person contact for jail visitations.
Across South Carolina, hundreds of inmates at state prisons and county jails have tested positive for COVID-19, according to The State newspaper.
