After COVID cases jump from 6 to 242, National Guard coming to help George Co. jail
A total of 242 coronavirus cases have now been traced back to prisoners and staff at the George County jail, marking the single largest coronavirus outbreak at a correctional facility in Mississippi.
The final results were back by Friday, according to officials with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and George County jail Warden Bobby Fairley.
Officials believe an employee unknowingly brought the virus into the jail.
On July 15, the first positive cases in prisoners came back for six state inmates, Fairley said.
Then, the state’s health department tested the remaining state and county prisoners along with members of the jail staff and administration.
To date, 233 state prisoners and 2 county prisoners have tested positive for the virus.
In addition, 7 corrections officers had confirmed cases of COVID-19. All but three of those officers, Fairley said, have recovered and returned to work.
The staff has separated the sick prisoners from the other inmates to help prevent any further spread of the virus.
Since the outbreak, only two of the prisoners have been taken to George County Regional Medical Center, where they were treated and returned to the jail.
“It’s been going pretty good, Fairley said. “The biggest complaints we’ve had have been about headaches and body aches. We had a few who tested positive who really didn’t feel like they had it. They didn’t have any symptoms.”
To help prevent the spread of the virus, Fairley said, the National Guard was headed to the jail Friday to drop off a shipment of additional masks, hand sanitizer and other personal protective gear.
The staff is checking temperatures, oxygen levels and symptoms daily to ensure no further spread of the virus.
In addition, there is daily deep cleaning of the facility.
Luckily, the warden said, he has had the staff to run the operation throughout the outbreak because many of the officers agreed to work overtimes while some employees were out sick with the virus.
“I want people to know how much I appreciate the employees coming in to work,” Fairley said. “You know, they have families they have to go home to, too. I can’t thank them enough.”
Governor Tate Reeves said Thursday he would not consider releasing any of the sick inmates early just because they tested positive for the virus.
On Friday, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported a total of 56,770 confirmed cases of new coronavirus and 1,570 deaths.
George County had 517 cases and 5 deaths.
According to MDOC, a total of 382 state inmates have now tested positive for the virus.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 3:35 PM.
