Inmate in York County SC jail positive for COVID; officials unsure how it happened
An inmate at the York County jail in South Carolina has tested positive for COVID-19, despite having been incarcerated for eight months, officials with the York County Sheriff’s Office said.
A second inmate has shown symptoms of coronavirus but has not tested positive, officials said.
It remains unclear how the inmate contracted the disease while in custody awaiting trial, said Kevin Tolson, York County Sheriff. In South Carolina, county jails are run by the county sheriff.
“With all of the precautions we’ve had in place since the beginning of the pandemic, it is unclear how this person who has been with us for so long became infected with the virus,” Tolson said Monday. “My priority as sheriff is the safety and well being of everyone in the community, which includes our inmate population under my care.”
The jail suspended outside visits after the March outbreak of the COVID pandemic, officials said.
In late 2020 sheriff officials said at least 32 employees that includes detention officers had tested positive for coronavirus. Inmates in general population and jail workers are required to wear masks, Tolson said.
Normal health screenings by sheriff’s office medical staff found the inmate had the disease, Tolson said.
The inmate was taken to a hospital after the positive test was discovered, but the illness did not require hospitalization, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office. The inmate was returned to the jail and both that person and the other inmate with symptoms were placed in a separate quarantine section away from the general jail population, Faris said.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is supplying the jail with testing kits to test all inmates, Faris said.
All inmates who enter the jail are kept out of general population for 14 days, Faris said.
“Once an inmate is moved out of the booking process, he or she is separated in a housing unit for a 14-day medical evaluation,” Faris said. “During that time, the inmates are monitored for COVID-19 symptoms or any other medical issues before being moved into the general population.”
The jail currently has more than 315 inmates and has had more than 3,200 inmates go in and out of the jail since the pandemic began in March.
