Outbreak at county jail grows to 17 inmates

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday that continued testing at the Mendocino County Jail has confirmed that 17 inmates have contracted the Covid-19 virus.

“The inmates have been placed on quarantine to prevent any spread into unaffected areas of the jail, and during the quarantine period, jail medical staff will be monitoring the health of the affected inmates,” the MCSO reported in a press release Dec. 24. “Further testing will be completed throughout the weekend until all persons housed within the facility are tested as part of our continued effort to keep the staff and residents of county jail safe.”

On Wednesday, the MCSO reported that three staff members and four inmates at the jail had tested positive, with the first person to test positive was a Corrections Deputy who reported Dec. 19 that he had taken a Covid-19 test that detected the virus. When two other employees determined to have been potentially exposed were tested, one of them got a positive result on Dec. 21.

A lso, “an additional employee reported feeling ill and submitted to Covid-19 testing, and was also found to be positive” on Dec. 21.

After the three positive test results, the MCSO reports that the jail’s administration contacted Mendocino County Public Health, which began testing all jail staff members on Dec. 22. That evening, three male inmates reported feeling ill, and all three tested positive for the virus. “Based on those results, 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,” the MCSO reports.

The morning of Dec. 23, “a fourth male inmate from a different housing unit, complaining of flulike symptoms, was tested and found to be positive. Again, following the jail’s Covid-19 policy, the housing unit in which the inmate was housed was placed on quarantine (and) a deep cleaning of the jail was performed by staff.”