SAN ANTONIO – This article is no longer being updated. For the latest information about COVID-19 cases in the Bexar County Jail and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, click here.
Update (April 21, 2020):
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Sheriff Javier Salazar briefed the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Tuesday about the Sheriff’s Office response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Salazar said that the population at the jail has decreased by about 840 inmates — resulting in a $40,000 a day savings.
Twenty-nine inmates have tested positive for the virus, and 11 have been sent to the recovery unit.
As of Tuesday morning, 26 deputies have tested positive and three have recovered and returned to duty, Salazar said.
Any incoming inmates are required to quarantine for 14 days, he said.
Salazar said BCSO had recently received a shipment of masks and is expecting another to arrive this week. Previous KSAT reporting found that inmates had been forced to wear tattered masks for days due to a lack of masks.
While Salazar told commissioners that they planned to provide new masks every three days for inmates, a BCSO spokesman said later Tuesday that it would be providing inmates with a new mask every day.
Efforts continue to reduce coronavirus spread inside the Bexar County Jail
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has said efforts are in the works to help contain the spread of the coronavirus inside the county jail, including setting up recovery units.
Wolff previously said they have received 52,000 face masks to give to staff and inmates for protection.
Update (April 17, 2020):
A detention deputy has tested positive for COVID-19, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Friday morning.
The newest infection brings the total number of BCSO deputies who have tested positive for the virus to 21. Contact tracing is being conducted by BCSO to determine the source of the infection, the department said.
A video visitation civilian employee, a dispatcher, a maintenance employee, a fleet maintenance employee and a University Health Systems nurse assigned to the jail have previously tested positive.
Ten inmates at the Bexar County Jail have also tested positive for the virus, as of Friday morning.
Update (April 15, 2020):
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that six additional deputies have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The deputies were assigned to the detention bureau, BCSO said in a statement. They were initially placed on leave out of caution and were subsequently tested for the virus.
BCSO is conducting contact tracing “to determine where the source of the infection originally occurred,” the department said.
“At this time we are not ruling out that staff may have contracted COVID-19 while working in the facility or that some may have contracted COVID-19 through community-transmission," BCSO stated.
6 Bexar County Jail inmates test positive for COVID-19, bringing total to 8
This brings the total number of BCSO deputies that have tested positive to 20.
A video visitation civilian employee, a dispatcher, a maintenance employee, and a University Health Systems nurse assigned to the jail have previously tested positive.
Eight inmates at the Bexar County Jail have tested positive for the virus.
Original (April 10, 2020):
Eleven more deputies from the recently-graduated detention cadet class 2020-Alpha have tested positive for COVID-19, deputy Johnny Garcia, a BCSO spokesman said Friday night in a news release.
The additional positive cases now make a total of 13 deputies from the cadet class who have tested positive for the virus. A case was discovered on Tuesday and the other last week.
BCSO academy class placed on leave after recently-graduated jailer tests positive for COVID-19
The initial case prompted the entire cadet class to be placed on leave, which Garcia said led to proactive measures that officials believe may have spared additional detention staff and the inmate population from being infected. In addition, due to the deputies being assigned to a training deputy, mitigation efforts require deputies to wear personal protective equipment during their shift, thus minimizing close-contact transmission among other deputies and inmates in the units where the graduates were working.
To date, a total of 14 deputies have tested positive for COVID-19, one Video Visitation civilian employee, one dispatcher, and one inmate at the Bexar County Jail.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
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