York County jail went from 60 inmates, staff with COVID-19 to zero. Here’s how.
The York County jail has ended a coronavirus outbreak after a high of 60 inmates and staff had COVID-19 about a month ago, officials said.
Current testing of more than 350 inmates shows no positive cases after the outbreak was discovered in late January, said York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson.
After a single inmate tested positive in early January, sheriff’s office medical staff received testing equipment from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and tested all inmates and staff who worked with the inmates, Tolson said. Testing showed 47 inmates and three staff had COVID in late January, Tolson said.
The number of positive inmates swelled to 60 but is now zero, Tolson said.
Staff kept all COVID-19 positive inmates separated from the rest of the jail population during the outbreak, officials said.
“To have no positive cases is tremendous news and shows the hard work and dedication our detention staff has made to prevent any further spread of COVID-19,” Tolson said Monday.
As of Monday, no jail staff have COVID and only one employee is under quarantine as a protective measure, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
In November, 11 sheriff’s office staff had COVID and 22 were quarantined.
How COVID-19 spread
It still remains unclear how COVID-19 was introduced into the jail, Faris said.
The York County jail is located at the Moss Justice Center in York.
People who are arrested go through booking, then are separated in a housing unit for a 14-day medical evaluation, Faris said. Those inmates have their temperature checked regularly and also are tested weekly for the coronavirus. After an inmate has two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests, the inmate is moved into general population.
Inmates are required to wear masks outside of their cells and maintain physical distance from each other as much as possible, Faris said.
Monthly testing of inmates will continue at the jail, Faris said.
