COVID outbreak forces Manatee County Jail to go into partial lockdown
A COVID-19 outbreak has forced the partial lockdown of the Manatee County Jail, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office announced late Wednesday afternoon.
As of Thursday, the jail had 75 people out of the 1,173 in custody who had the coronavirus. Most of the inmates who have tested positive are currently asymptomatic, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren. Only three inmates are in the jail’s medical unit, because of pre-existing medical conditions.
The sheriff’s office has 19 deputies and civilian employees who work at the jail and currently have the coronavirus.
“This is reflective of what we are seeing in the community,” Warren said. “It seems like everyone is dealing with minor symptoms to this point.”
Cases have been mostly identified through “sick calls” when medical staff go into the dorms asking for anyone who feels sick in any way. Those complaining of COVID-19 symptoms are then tested. When an inmate tests positive, their roommate is then tested, and many asymptomatic cases have been identified that way.
Because of the spike of cases at the jail, the sheriff’s office issued a partial lockdown. During a partial lockdown, inmates remain in their cells except for six to eight hours a day. During their time out, inmates are moved in small groups and on a rotating basis so they can take showers, make phone calls, go to the commissary, exercise yard or common areas of their dorms.
The partial lockdown will not affect the jail’s offsite Video Visitation Center, which will continue to operate on it’s normal schedule.
As of Thursday, there have been 140 inmates and 118 jail employees who had contracted the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. The Florida Department of Health, which no longer releases data on cases in correctional facilities, had been vastly under-counting such cases.
“We are still quarantining people as new arrests come in,” Warren said.
The Manatee County jail began offering COVID-19 vaccines in mid-April to anyone in custody. To date, there have been 550 first doses of the Moderna vaccine and 235 inmates have received both doses.
Naphcare, which is contracted by the sheriff’s office to provide care at the jail, continues to be offered to anyone newly booked at the jail, according to Warren.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 5:48 PM.
