- Lake County News reports
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Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reports COVID-19 outbreak in jail
Lt. John Bednar of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said a corrections deputy at the Mendocino County Jail had been off work with an illness and, per policy, received testing for COVID-19.
On Saturday, the corrections deputy reported to jail administration that he had taken a COVID-19 test and received a positive result, Bednar said.
Working with Mendocino County Human Resources, contact tracing was immediately done. Bednar said two employees were identified as being potentially exposed and were subsequently tested.
On Monday, one of those employees received a positive test. Bednar said an additional employee reported feeling ill and submitted to COVID-19 testing, and was also found to be positive that same date.
Because of the positive results, Bednar said jail administration reached out to Mendocino County Public Health, which arranged for testing kits for all staff members. Testing began for all staff members on Tuesday.
The Mendocino County Public Health Department also worked to secure test kits so that all of the inmate population and corrections staff can be tested. Bednar said testing has begun and will continue until all inmates and staff have been tested.
On Tuesday evening, three male inmates reported feeling ill with flu-like symptoms. On-site jail medical staff from Naphcare responded immediately and began testing the three inmates. Bednar said the three inmates all tested positive for COVID-19.
Based on those results, Bednar said the housing unit in which they were assigned was quarantined, following the jail’s COVID-19 policy, to avoid any potential spread of the virus.
On Wednesday morning, a fourth male inmate from a different housing unit, complaining of flu-like symptoms, was tested and found to be positive, Bednar said. Again, following the jail’s COVID-19 policy, the housing unit in which the inmate was housed was placed on quarantine.
In addition to the normal cleaning of the jail, a deep cleaning of the jail was performed by staff following the positive findings, Bednar said.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office thanked Bekke Emery and her staff for their quick response in assisting it and providing the necessary testing supplies so that testing can be completed for the safety of inmates and staff.
“Working with our partners at the Public Health Department, we will continue working to keep the staff and residents within the Mendocino County Jail safe,” Bednar said.