The 44 inmates and four staff who recently tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak at the Daviess County Detention Center have all been medically cleared and released off quarantine status. Officials said Monday that after more testing, an additional three inmates and two staff have tested positive for the virus.
According to officials, the jail’s medical provider (Southern Health Partners) followed up with additional testing for numerous inmates at the facility. The three inmates who tested positive are all housed in an outer building and are being monitored and treated for mild to moderate symptoms.
“Those inmates are in Building 3, which is separated into four separate dorms,” Jailer Art Maglinger said. “Two of those dorms are in quarantine status.”
Maglinger added that the previous outbreak mainly affected inmates in the substance abuse program. He said each of the 44 inmates and four staff from the outbreak had recovered, allowing the quarantine to be lifted and the jail deputies to return to work.
“That’s wonderful news for us,” Maglinger said. “Building 1 is where our medical unit is located and where a lot of our deputies [are located]. It’s more of an open setup.”
Building 1 is also the most populated area of the County jail, housing 400-500 inmates on any given day.
Maglinger said DCDC is still taking the same precautions as they have been throughout the pandemic, including wearing masks, heavy cleaning and disinfecting, and social distancing. But in a corrections facility, he said, social distancing isn’t always possible. Jail deputies have to check for contraband upon entry into the facility.
“Deputies have done a good job managing it and staying on top of it,” he said. “I have to give credit to the administrative nurse and our medical staff as well.”
Maglinger said the Green River District Health Department has contacted DCDC about receiving its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to happen sometime in the next few weeks.
Maglinger said he’d already surveyed his deputy jailers and medical staff and that 13 individuals had opted to receive the vaccine once it’s made available to them.
Though it’s a much-needed step in keeping DCDC employees safe from further exposure to the virus, Maglinger said he hasn’t yet heard from state officials about a vaccine for the hundreds of inmates housed at the jail.
And though the number of COVID-19 cases at the jail has decreased significantly over the last two weeks, Maglinger said it was too early in the game to get comfortable.
He said: “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
