Dutchess jail officers have virus
2 test positive, 31 others quarantined; no confirmed cases at Ulster facility
Two corrections officers at the Dutchess County Jail have tested positive for the coronavirus and another 31 are in quarantine, Jail Administrator Col. Michael Walters said Monday.
Walters said some of those in quarantine have been mandated to isolate, while others are doing so voluntarily as a precaution.
The two Dutchess cases are the only reported instances of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, in the region’s county jails.
Ulster County Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Abram Markiewicz said there are no cases of the virus among the Ulster County Jail’s 119 inmates or corrections officers.
Last week, Greene County Sheriff Peter Kusminsky said three
Greene County inmates who are housed in the Albany County Jail were placed in isolation after being exposed to a nurse at the Albany County facility who tested positive for the coronavirus. (The Greene County Jail was closed in April 2018 due to deteriorating conditions that made the 110-year-old building unsafe.)
Kusminsky did not return a reporter’s call Monday regarding the status of the three isolated inmates.
In an email Monday, Walters said there have been no positive cases of the coronavirus among inmates in the Dutchess County Jail, though he said two are in isolation as a precaution. “However, they do not have COVID-19 symptoms,” he said. “They are isolated for flu.”
There were 152 inmates in the Dutchess County Jail on Monday.
Walters said inmates will be tested if they are experiencing coronavirus symptoms and meet the protocols for testing. He said PrimeCare, the jail’s medical provider, does have tests available if needed.
Walters also said many of the quarantined corrections officers are isolated because either they, their spouses or people in their families might have been exposed to or were in direct contact with someone who had a confirmed case of the virus. He said in many cases, those individuals will be tested only if they begin exhibiting symptoms.
Walters said that despite having 33 corrections officers under quarantine, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office is able to meet the state’s staffing requirements because of the recently reduced jail population and by using part-time employees to cover the shifts.
Both Markiewicz and Walters said jail officials have stepped up precautionary measures in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Both jails have suspended family visits and closed the facility to all outsiders except medical and psychiatric professionals.
Markiewicz said because in-person visits have been canceled, Sheriff Juan Figueroa has instituted a program through which inmates are given weekly telephone call credits so they still can keep in touch with their families.
Also, Ulster and Dutchess counties have limited access to the jails to one door and are taking the temperature of anyone entering the buildings for any purpose.
Both jails have personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks and gowns, and jail officials said that, at the moment, they have enough of those supplies to meet their needs.