On Saturday, it was announced a nurse contracted by the medical provider at the jail had been diagnosed with coronavirus. The Sheriff’s Office is in the process of arranging testing for inmates who had direct contact with the infected health care contractor.
Yesterday, Monday April 20th, a Deputy Jailer tested positive for the Coronavirus and is currently at home under quarantine.
The Deputy worked in one of the Control Rooms and had no contact with inmates and has not been at work since Tuesday, April 14, 2020.
Employees of the Charles B. Webster Detention Center and civilian contractors are in the process of being scheduled for COVID-19 testing at various drive through locations operated by the Department of Public Health.
So far, there have been five inmates tested for COVID-19 and all tests came back negative.
As reports for positive test results of Covid-19 for inmates, guards and health care professionals testing are on the rise, jails and prisons across the country are struggling to contain the virus.
As of Friday, the Georgia Department of Corrections, which houses roughly 52,000 inmates, had 139 confirmed cases in 30 of the state’s 34 detention facilities, according to the AJC. Altogether 67 staff members and 72 offenders have been stricken with the disease caused by the coronavirus, with two prisons in south Georgia — Lee State and Johnson State — reporting a combined 44 infections. In Augusta, as of the 16th of April there were 916 inmates in the Charles B. Webster Detention Center in Richmond County.
This time last year there were 940 inmates in the jail, which has a reported maximum occupancy of 1,052 inmates.