Two more Dane County Sheriff’s deputies who work in the jail have tested positive for COVID-19. That brings the total number of deputies testing positive to four.
Two inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
News of the disease in the jail was first shared March 26 when eight male inmates were quarantined due to fevers. Two of those inmates tested positive for the disease.
“The first inmate to test positive has been released from the jail. The second inmate to test positive remains in quarantine in a segregation cell of the jail. He is currently symptom free,” according to the sheriff’s office. “At this time, no additional inmates are exhibiting symptoms.”
Two deputies who worked directly with the sick inmates tested positive over the weekend. The sheriff’s office reported Tuesday that the latest deputies, ages 27 and 46, to test positive for COVID-19 are at home in quarantine.
[UPDATE: Two Dane County Jail inmates test positive for COVID-19]
“It appears the common thread is both the deputies and inmates who have tested positive, were either housed or working on 6 West and 7 West of the City-County Building,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The jail is spread across three facilities: the downtown City-County and Public Safety buildings and the work-release Ferris Center near the Alliant Energy Center. Inmates who have been in contact with COVID-19, including those who tested positive for it, have been housed in solitary cells in the City-County Building.
Dane County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer said everyone who was in contact with the inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 were moved last week.
“Those areas have been sanitized, and to my knowledge they continue to be used,” Schaffer said, noting they are being sanitized with Skytron UV emitters.
To date, 11 deputies have been tested for COVID-19. Of those, four have come back positive and five have been negative.
Two deputies are still awaiting results.
