COVID-19 cases climb at Mecklenburg County jail, official says. 18 inmates isolated.
Mecklenburg County’s jail is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases, with 18 inmates confined to a single floor after testing positive for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Chief Deputy Rodney Collins said Wednesday night.
A recent spread of the virus appears confined to the sixth floor, and all those infected “are effectively isolated and are being monitored by healthcare personnel,” Collins said in a statement.
Most of those who’ve tested positive are asymptomatic, according to Collins. Others are showing only mild symptoms of the disease, he said, and “are being well cared for by healthcare professionals.”
Collins said jail officials have worked since the start of the pandemic on protocols to prevent the spread of the virus, but he acknowledged challenges to keeping it at bay.
The jail is the state’s largest with about 1,455 inmates and is “challenged with dealing with residents that aren’t accurately reporting their symptoms” so they can avoid extended quarantine and isolation, Collins said.
The 45 to 60 daily admissions “further compounds the risk of exposure and spread of the virus,” Collins added.
“Transfers from other detention facilities that may not have the same standard of care also pose additional challenges in our fight against the virus,” according to his statement.
Still, he said, no one at the jail has died or been hospitalized due to COVID-19 at the facility.
Inmate advocates tell a different story.
Kristie Puckett-Williams of the American Civil Liberties Union said she was jailed for hours on May 29 and on June 11 after being arrested while protesting. She and fellow protesters weren’t given masks and sat fewer than six feet from other detainees waiting to be processed, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Charlotte lawyer Tin Nguyen, who also was arrested and jailed after protesting on Sept. 21, said “there was no way to socially distance. The whole time I was in there, I was pretty scared I was going to be exposed to COVID. It just didn’t seem like a safe place. There were so many people crammed together.”
In Wednesday’s statement, Collins said jail officials “continue to evaluate and adjust our protocols in response to COVID-19. All persons are screened for symptoms, issued a face covering and placed in orientation quarantine for 14 days where they are monitored for symptoms.
“We continue to clean, sanitize and promote (federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines for residents and staff.”