Outbreak reported at jail

Three employees, four inmates test positive

Three staff members and four inmates at the Mendocino County Jail recently tested positive for Covid-19, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported.

According to the MCSO, the first staff member to test positive was a Corrections Deputy who had been off work with an illness and 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.

Also, “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 provided testing kits for all staff members, which began on Dec. 22. In addition, more kits were acquired so that all staff and inmates could be tested.

The evening of Tuesday, Dec. 22, 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 po

tential 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.”

T he MCSO repor t s that “a deep cleaning of the jail was performed by staff following the positive findings,” and that jail staff will continue “working with our partners at the Public Health Department to keep the staff and residents within the Mendocino County Jail safe.”