Two inmates test positive for coronavirus at Bibb County jail. How’d they get it?
A pair of inmates at the Bibb County jail who in recent days were diagnosed with COVID-19 have been moved into isolation cells at the downtown-Macon lockup’s infirmary.
In announcing the diagnoses on Friday, sheriff’s officials said the inmates, who were not identified, began having flu-like symptoms about a week ago.
They two — both men under 40 — were tested and on Thursday the results showed the pair had contracted COVID-19. They’re the first inmates in Bibb County to test positive for COVID-19.
The inmates were being held in so-called negative-pressure cells in the the jail’s sick bay — cells that keep air within them from blending with air from surrounding cells and potentially contaminating others.
“Both inmates displayed mild symptoms of the virus and are currently being monitored by the jail’s medical staff,” the sheriff’s statement read. “Following CDC guidelines, the two inmates will be quarantined for up to two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, the medical staff will re-evaluate and decide whether they will be released back into general population or continue to stay in quarantine.”
The cells and surrounding areas where the inmates who had contracted the virus were previously housed were promptly sanitized, officials said, and inmates who had been close to them were being monitored. Middle Georgia sheriffs have been preparing for potential positive COVID-19 cases for a month, although they acknowledged there was only so much they could do to restrict exposure.
One of the infected inmates had been at the jail since September. The other was locked up in December.
“The Bibb jail staff is working to determine how the inmates may have become infected. Both of the inmates had been incarcerated for several months prior to their becoming sick,” the statement added. “Cleaning crews will continue to clean and sanitize the jail on an hourly basis and personal hygiene products are distributed to the inmates on a regular basis.”
Bibb County had 56 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s noon update.