Jail inmate positive for COVID-19 dies

An Oklahoma County j ail in mate who tested positive for COVID-19 has died, The Oklahoman has learned.

Officials said in mate Clarence Merrell died around 7 a.m. Tuesday after struggling with multiple underlying health issues and spending more than a week at a local hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email obtained by The Oklahoman. This makes him the first COVID- 1 9 death related to the county jail. Merrell was 64 years old. “It's a dangerous virus,” jail administrator Greg Williams said. “We know it is serious and that is the reason we are taking all the precautions we do. ... I hate this for his family. It is a horrible incident.”

Merrell was booked into jail on June 26 for multiple drug-related offenses, including distribution and possession of a firearm after a former conviction.

Charges were associated with a drug-dealing operation that was selling counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. The pills led to the deaths of two individuals, according to records from the state attorney general's office.

The entire time Merrell was in the jail he had been under specialized doctor's care due to preexisting conditions, Williams said.

This death comes a week after it was reported the jail had experienced a surge in identified COVID- 1 9 cases aft er a new management team took over the jail and ramped up testing.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the jail had identified 44 positive COVID- 1 9 cases, 33 cases of which are currently active, j ail spokesman Mac Mullings said. It' s currently unclear if those 44 cases are just inmates or if the number includes jail staff, as well.

Jail administrators have tested more than 1,200 inmates since July 1.

Hundreds of inmates are currently quarantined to await test results, recover from the virus or be convinced to take a COVID test in the first place, which many have refused to do.

At the end of last week, across the state of Oklahoma roughly 450 inmates in jails, prisons and juvenile facilities had tested positive for the virus so far, and four had died, according to the state Health Department.

The Health Department reported 129 correctional staffers statewide had also tested positive.