Positive covid-19 test in Benton County Jail

BENTONVILLE — An inmate or employee at the Benton County Jail tested positive for covid-19 over the weekend, Lt. Shannon Jenkins said.

Jenkins, spokeswoman for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said all inmates and employees are being tested by the Arkansas Department of Health.

Jenkins’ news release didn’t say whether the positive test involves an inmate or employee.

She said the Sheriff ’s Office is following guidelines set by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health.

Jenkins said each detainee is screened before entering the jail. Any person indicating he has symptoms is evaluated by medical staff and isolated if necessary, she said

Detainees the medical staff determine meet the criteria for testing will be tested, Jenkins said.

The temperatures of every inmate are taken twice daily and all inmates have access to medical staff, she said.

Inmates were wearing masks Monday morning as each one appeared before Circuit Judge Robin Green through a video conferencing system.

Danyelle McNeill, Health Department spokeswoman, said Monday afternoon all the inmates and employees were in the process of being tested. She said it will take 48 to 72 hours to get results.

“We will wok with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office to closely monitor the situation and to continue the steps aimed at stopping the spread of the virus,” McNeill said.

Sheriff Shawn Holloway said in April his office has been working with Prosecutor Nathan Smith and the circuit judges to release detainees on a case-by-case basis. Holloway said the jail, which has a capacity of 667 beds, had about 525 detainees, and has held about 700 inmates before.

There were 413 inmates in the facility Monday.

Holloway said the jail has space available for a medical isolation area if needed.

Ten inmates at the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County have died of the illness caused by the coronavirus and the 1,900-bed prison unit had 963 inmates test positive for the virus. Just over 950 have recovered.

Sixty-five total Cummins

Unit employees have contracted the virus, and some who tested positive were asked to return to work because of strained staffing.

There have been 1,406 positive covid-19 cases in Benton County with 814 being recovered and seven deaths, according to the state Health Department’s website.

There are 1,804 cases in Washington County with 761 of them recovered and 12 deaths, according to the website.

NWA Democrat-Gazette photograph by Flip Putthoff Zak Withrow (center) goes through passing drills recently with his Pea Ridge Blackhawks teammates.

NWA Democrat-Gazette photograph by Flip Putthoff Jake Ingram (center) practices recently with the Pea Ridge Blackhawks in Blackhawk Stadium.