Grayson County Jailer Jason Woosley has released updated numbers related to inmates’ and deputies’ coronavirus (COVID-19) test results at the Grayson County Detention Center.
Woosley said as of Wednesday morning, 30 inmates have been tested for the virus, with 23 of those inmates testing positive. Two victims are currently hospitalized.
Zero inmate tests are pending and four detainees have recovered, Woosley reports.
The jailer said 19 detention center deputies have been tested, with two tests returned positive for COVID-19. Seventeen deputies tested negative for the virus.
One deputy has recovered from the disease, Woosley said, and zero tests are pending.
Woosley previously responded to questions he’s received from people in the community about what his facility is doing to limit the spread of COVID-19 inside the detention center.
He said “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.
“We feel like we’re doing everything that we can at this time to prevent this from spreading to any other parts of our facility,” Woosley said at the time. “… Hopefully, we have it confined, and we can keep it that way, but we’re expecting the worse just so we’ll be prepared for it when it comes.”
Jail officials are testing only those inmates who show symptoms, “which we were recommended to do,” Woosley said.
“We started this (preparing for an outbreak) in March, about March 12, putting things in place to be prepared for an outbreak,” he noted. “Shortly after that, we started changing (staff members’) schedules and rotating shifts so that the flow of staff coming in and out of the building would be minimal … We’ve always used PPE (personal protective equipment) supplies (and) we did start wearing cloth masks the first of April and we’ve continued wearing those ever since; that is mandatory for the staff. And for those staff working in the area with positive cases, those staff are wearing full PPE required equipment.”
There are currently 561 inmates held in all three GCDC facilities.
Grayson County COVID-19 numbers
As of Monday, June 1, the number of COVID-19 cases in Grayson County stood at 135 victims. Officials said 109 (80.7 percent) people have recovered.
Of the county’s confirmed COVID-19 cases, 45 are residents of Grayson Nursing & Rehabilitation while 17 are staff members. Spring View Nursing & Rehabilitation has had 12 residents test positive along with three employees.
Five cases have arisen from Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center.
As of Monday, nine Grayson County residents have died from COVID-19. Seven of the deaths were residents of Grayson Nursing & Rehabilitation, while one victim was a resident of Spring View Nursing & Rehabilitation. One victim was a 66-year-old county resident.
K105.com will publish updated Grayson County coronavirus information when it is made available.
(Photo: Jailer Jason Woosley at an April 2020 COVID-19 briefing)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
