3 Inmates, 5 Workers At Travis County Jail Coronavirus Positive

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Sheriff's Office on Monday reported three more inmates and five employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

Sheriff's officials said in an advisory that two of the inmates were housed in isolation, and had already bonded out when their results came in. They were notified by medical staff via phone, officials said.

The other inmate was in the quarantine unit and had been arrested on an out of county charge, officials added. The inmate has been transferred to the custody of that county, officials added. "We currently have no inmates in the Quarantine-Confirmed Positive Unit, officials noted.

Sheriff's office officials broke down the COVID-19 statistics:

• Total Jail Population: 1,821.
• Inmates in Quarantine: 24.
• Inmates in Quarantine – Confirmed Positive: 0.
• Inmates in Isolation: 256.

The sheriff's office also provided a breakdown related to coronavirus testing:

Inmates

471 tested, 420 negative, 23 positive, 23 pending. Inmates are tested at the discretion of the treating physician.

Employees

Tested/Negative/Positive/Pending

• Law Enforcement: 66/53/10/3
• Corrections: 233/187/42/4 *
• Administration and Support: 62/49/10/3 *

* A Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told Patch employees who work in the Corrections and Adminstration and Support bureaus don’t all work at the Travis County Jail, as employees are dispersed across 20-plus buildings.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office also defined its nomenclature as it relates to coronavirus in its facility:

• Quarantine houses inmates who are experiencing virus-like illness symptoms. About 1/3 of them have no symptoms and are in quarantine because they either refused to answer CDC guideline questions or answered yes to all CDC guideline questions on intake. They’re housed in quarantine until cleared by our medical staff. Quarantine is on a separate floor from all other inmates. Each inmate is in a single-occupancy cell and is seen twice a day by medical professionals.
• Quarantine – Confirmed Positive houses only those inmates who have tested positive for the virus. The inmates are housed in single-occupancy cells and are seen twice a day by medical professionals.
• Isolation: All newly booked, (healthy) inmates are held in single-occupancy cells for the first 10-14 days as another layer of protection to keep COVID-19 from entering our general population. If an inmate doesn’t show symptoms within that 10-14 day time period, our medical staff is more confident that it’s safe to introduce that person into the general population. We implemented this process on March 30th with approval from Texas Commission on Jail Standards.