COVID outbreak at Mecklenburg jail sickens dozens of inmates, isolates hundreds more
A deepening outbreak of COVID-19 at the Mecklenburg County Jail has sickened dozens of inmates and placed hundreds more in some form of isolation as officials struggle to slow the spread of the resurgent virus.
As of Wednesday, 61 inmate cases of the disease had been confirmed by the Sheriff’s Office. More than 500 prisoners — about a third of the total inmate population — had been placed under respiratory isolation or quarantine, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Thirty-four workers have also tested positive and are in quarantine, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The numbers in North Carolina’s largest county jail track the re-energized pandemic raging outside its doors. North Carolina had reported 6,130 new cases Wednesday. Due to the highly contagious delta variant of the virum, the rate of positive tests for the disease had soared to 13.5%.
More than 3,500 state residents remain hospitalized; 14,202 North Carolinians have died.
A further increase in the jail’s COVID-19 cases seems likely. The Sheriff’s Office has designated 11 inmate housing units under respiratory isolation, meaning that the occupants have tested positive, shown covid symptoms or have undergone a significant risk of exposure.
A separate unit has been designated for quarantining inmates with a known but less significant exposure to the virus.
The current number of cases is the largest since December when a similar outbreak — fueled by jailers returning from the Thanksgiving holiday — sickened more than 100 inmates.
Those entering the jail are screened for symptoms, issued a face covering, offered a vaccine and kept in quarantine/isolation housing for 14 days, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Jailers and other staff are now required to wear masks along with wristbands indicating their vaccination status. In a statement, Sheriff Garry McFadden said his employees are encouraged to get the shots but are not required to do so.
The Sheriff’s Office has a staff of slightly more than 1,000 sworn officers and civilian employees; 50.8% have been vaccinated, spokeswoman Janet Parker said.
“We remain confident in the protocols our staff and contract medical providers have implemented to manage and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our facilities,” McFadden said in a Wednesday news release. “As cases continue to increase in the community we encourage everyone to get vaccinated and will continue to educate and offer the COVID-19 vaccine to our resident population.”
But Charlotte attorney Tim Emry, who’s been active in the effort to lower the jail population to slow the spread of disease among inmates, said McFadden should require his employees to be vaccinated. He called the current outbreak “tragic and frustrating.”
“Much like a hospital or nursing home, the jail’s staff are dealing with a highly vulnerable population,” Emry said in a Wednesday email to the Observer.
“If health systems are mandating vaccinations for at will employees, I don’t understand why Sheriff McFadden doesn’t do the same. Failing to protect the people in his care is creating a crisis that I fear will become deadly, if it isn’t already.”
The virus has also struck in the other end of the county’s criminal justice system. An outbreak of the disease in the Clerk of Court’s Office sickened more than a dozen employees, partially closed the courthouse, and claimed a longtime member of Clerk Eliza Chinn-Gary’s staff.
WSOC identified the victim as Pam Babb, 60.
“It was sudden,” her son Carlos Babb told the TV station. “And her body just couldn’t take it, and she died in her bed, asleep.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
