JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. — The Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail (VPRJ) said its on-site doctor and medical staff were monitioring an inmate who tested positive for COVID-19.
Col. Roy Witham, superintendent of the jail, said a staff member also tested positive for the disease. Two other staff members were considered "patients under investigation." Those two staff members were waiting for test results.
Witham said he found out about the inmate's positive test result on Thursday. The inmate arrived at the jail on July 22 and was put into VPRJ's quarantine unit. The jail started following that measure for new arrivals in March, early on in the pandemic.
After quarantine and medical observation, staff members transferred the inmate to a general population unit. Witham said during the inmate’s time in quarantine, the inmate didn't show signs of any illness. After going into general population, the inmate started showing symptoms. At that point, staff members placed the inmate in isolation in the medical department and tested the inmate for COVID-19.
Witham contacted the Peninsula Health District Thursday morning after getting word of the results. He said his staff members were working with health officials to monitor and test people in the unit where the inmate was housed along with VPRJ staff.
The staff member who tested positive and the two who are waiting for test results are in quarantine; the staff member who tested positive is recovering.
“I want to be very clear. VPRJ has adhered to our local health district and the CDC’s guidance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We have conducted daily temperature checks on staff, instituted a mandatory mask policy when present anywhere within the facility for staff, as well as inmates, placed new commits into quarantine once they are booked into the facility, restricted movement among staff and inmates throughout the facility, prohibited members of the public from entering the facility unless they had a specific and approved reason such as needing to see the magistrate, and cleaned and disinfected throughout the facility daily and routinely," Witham said.