Coronavirus Outbreak Reported At Travis County Sheriff's Office

Tony Cantu
·3 min read

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday reported 39 new positive diagnoses of the coronavirus among the inmate population and another 22 cases among employees.

Among employees, the infections were among those in law enforcement, corrections and administrative bureaus, according to a sheriff's office advisory. All divisions comprise both sworn and civilian employees, officials noted.

The sheriff's office released details on the inmate population as of Tuesday:

  • Total jail population: 1,870.

  • Inmates in quarantine: 37.

  • Inmates in quarantine confirmed positive: 43.

  • Inmates in isolation: 1,173.

The sheriff's office broke down overall statistics related to COVID-19 tests:

Inmates

  • 1,604 tested.

  • 1,500 negative.

  • 108 positive.

  • 6 pending.

Note: Inmates are tested at the discretion of the treating physician.

Travis County Sheriff's Office employees

Tested/Negative/Positive/Pending

  • Law Enforcement: 139/99/40/0.

  • Corrections: 428/323/102/3.

  • Administrative/Support: 161/112/47/2.

Travis County Sheriff's Office officials said a screening process was designed in February 2020 to prevent COVID-19 from reaching its inmate general population. That early process developed into a three-tiered isolation approach (detailed above in the stats portion), coupled with a litany of other protective measures including: plexiglass barriers, employee screening stations, ample soap and sanitizer, professional cleaning services, anti-microbial mist and HEPA air scrubbers, to name a few, officials noted.

"Inmates have always had unlimited access to soap in housing units, as well as cells, so they can wash their hands at any time," officials wrote in an advisory. "Cleaning products are also in each housing unit, accessible to inmates as they have need. Additional hand sanitizer stations were added in common areas such as hallways. Inmates are also issued PPE [personal protective equipment], and are required to wear masks and practice social distancing when in common areas. TCSO medical professionals knew it wasn’t a foolproof method but was as close as the agency could get," officials noted.

"Unfortunately, last week, COVID-19 was detected among TCSO’s inmate general population," sheriff's office officials continued. "The inmates who tested positive live in Building 12, which is the largest building in the Travis County Correctional Complex, housing nearly 1,000 inmates. The building houses all classifications, from minimum to maximum security, in seven different blocks and 35 separate housing units."

The positive cases are limited to five housing units, officials noted. A total of 42 inmates within those units have tested positive, which represents approximately 2 percent of the Travis County Sheriff's Office total inmate population.

“The wonderful men and women of TCSO have worked tirelessly to prevent COVID-19 from infecting our general population," Sheriff Sally Hernandez said in a prepared statement. "Their efforts helped protect our inmate population for nearly a year and that is truly commendable. We’ve been greatly blessed compared to other jails and prisons across Texas. It’s unfortunate that we have inmates who have contracted the virus. We have plans in place to mitigate the spread and those efforts are in full force.”

Inmates who have tested positive were immediately moved to the Quarantine-Confirmed Positive unit at the Travis County Jail, officials said. Inmates who have not tested positive, remain in the housing unit, and are quarantined, officials added.

Medical Services Director Mary Gallo spoke to resulting quarantine effort: “Just like a household would quarantine for 14 days if someone had direct exposure to the virus, our housing units will quarantine together until they have gone a full 14 days with no new positive results.”

Officials added that inmates in the quarantined units will be tested every seven days or if they present symptoms.

“Throughout the pandemic, I’ve encouraged our employees to look upon these challenges as opportunities for success and growth," Hernandez said. "We’ve learned so much and are better for the experience of solving tough problems as a team. We will continue to band together and fight the spread of this virus.”


This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch