Travis County Sheriff's Office Reports 17 More Coronavirus Cases

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Sheriff's Office this week reported seven more cases of the coronavirus among the inmate population and ten more among sheriff's office employees.

Two inmates were booked into jail as known positive cases, officials said. Four others were housed in quarantine with symptoms when tested, and one inmate was booked at a local hospital and is still there, officials added.

"We currently have three inmates in our Quarantine-Confirmed Positive Unit," sheriff's office officials wrote in a prepared statement. "The others have either been cleared by medical staff to move out of quarantine, or were released on bond or warrant withdrawal."

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The ten new COVID-19 positive cases were found among sheriff's office employees in the corrections, law enforcement and administration bureaus, according to an advisory. Employee numbers represent sworn and civilian, officials noted.

"Quarantine houses inmates who are experiencing virus-like illness symptoms," officials wrote. "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."

Related stories:

• Coronavirus: Travis County Jail Reports 12 New Cases
• Coronavirus: 2 Travis County Jail Inmates Test Positive

Quarantine – Confirmed Positive houses only those inmates who have tested positive for the virus, officials added. The inmates are housed in single-occupancy cells and are seen twice a day by medical professionals, officials noted.

Isolation encompasses 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, according to an advisory. "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," officials said. "We implemented this process on March 30th with approval from Texas Commission on Jail Standards."

Overall totals

Inmates: 399 tested, 351 negative, 19 positive, 24 pending

(Inmates are tested at the discretion of the treating physician.)

Travis County Sheriff's Office Employees

Tested/Negative/Positive/Pending

57/42/10 5 (law enforcement)

198/136/34/28 (corrections)

53/42/8/3 (administrative and support)