Over a dozen Grayson Co. Detention Center inmates test positive for COVID-19. County now has 118 cases.

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The Grayson County Health Department has announced over a dozen new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Grayson County Detention Center (GCDC).

The health department reports 14 male GCDC inmates have tested positive for the virus as well as a female Grayson County resident (no age given), giving the county 15 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases. No new deaths were reported. The newly confirmed coronavirus cases increase the county’s total to 118.

All the positive inmates are “in isolation together,” according to the health department.

On Friday, Jailer Jason Woosley said 27 tests had been administered in the facility. A few of those tests were negative with several results still pending as of Saturday afternoon, according to Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson.

As of Friday, the facility housed 570 inmates at its three locations: the main campus on Shaw Station Road, the GCDC Annex and the female facility on East White Oak Street.

Woosley said that “an entire section of the main facility” is being used to separate the general population of the jail from inmates in quarantine. Since March, every new intake at the facility has been placed in 14 day quarantine, with every person in quarantine undergoing a COVID-19 test.

As of Friday, nine GCDC deputies had undergone testing, with only one test coming back positive for COVID-19. Woosley said the positive employee has not been to work since April 22 and was exposed to the highly contagious virus by a family member.

The newly confirmed cases increase Grayson County’s total to 118, with 39 victims recovered, as of Friday. The county has eight COVID-19-related deaths; seven connected to Grayson Nursing & Rehabilitation and a 66-year-old county resident.

Of Grayson County’s 118 confirmed coronavirus cases, 45 are residents of Grayson Nursing & Rehabilitation while 16 are staff members. Spring View Nursing & Rehabilitation has had 12 residents test positive along with one employee. The GCDC now has 16 COVID-19 cases, 15 inmates and one deputy, and five cases have arisen from Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center.

Only 13 of the county’s cases are “community members.”

Henderson will host a COVID-19 briefing on Monday at 3:30. The briefing can be seen live on K105’s Facebook and YouTube pages, and heard on K105.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com