LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — New precautions are in place after 57 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 at the Lake County Jail.
"We have had no hospitalizations yet and as of Friday. All 57 of those cases were asymptomatic," said John Harrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. "We have two corrections officers who are positive. I don't know if they were tested as a part of this screening or if they were tested by their own physician."
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Officials said a nurse working in the medical unit has also been tested after showing symptoms. The Sheriff’s Office is still waiting for those results.
Because of the reported cases, officials said they have ramped up testing.
"We have tested 387 additional over the weekend and so far we have tested a total of 594,” Harrell said. “And as of [Monday] there are 769 inmates in the jail, and our goal is to have every inmate tested by Wednesday."
Employees working inside the jail are also being tested.
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Along with that officials explained other precautions that have been put into place.
"We have shut down all additional entrances for the employees reporting they have to go thru one entrance where there is a nurse who does the screening,” Harrell said. “Of course, when a deputy or police officer brings in a new arrest, they are met in the sally port with a nurse who screens the officer and the inmate being brought in."
Deputies said new inmates are isolated for 14 days and any inmate who tests positive is quarantined for 28 days.
Once they test negative twice, they are allowed to go back into the general population.
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