AnonymousOne additional custody deputy was found to be COVID-19 positive today. The custody deputy has been asymptomatic and was tested in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 1, 2020 as part of the sweeping testing of all custody staff. The custody deputy wore an N95 mask when she last had contact with inmates on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. She has been on regular days off since Wednesday morning. Contact tracing and testing of inmates and staff continues.
Four More Sheriff’s Employees Test Positive for COVID-19
Two additional custody deputies, one custody civilian staff member and a patrol deputy sheriff have tested positive for COVID-19 this week. Two of the four exposures do not appear to be work related.
One of the custody deputies was away from work on military leave since June 14, 2020. He became ill this past week, was later found to be COVID-19 positive, and is currently self-isolating at home.
The second custody deputy was tested after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms on his days off. He was mistakenly notified that the results of his test were negative. Once asymptomatic, he returned to work where he was assigned to guard duty at the Santa Barbara County Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF). Unfortunately, his test result had been misread by a contract medical employee. Once the error had been found, the employee was immediately notified and sent home to self-isolate. The custody deputy, who had worked 2 shifts at the PHF, was wearing an N95 mask. There has been no indication that there has been any COVID-19 spread at the PHF.
The third custody staff member is a part-time civilian employee assigned to Custody Records, which is where we believe the prior custody staff outbreak originated. She had not been at work since Friday, June 12, 2020 and had no inmate contact. After becoming symptomatic, she sought testing and was found to be COVID-19 positive. She is self-isolating at home.
The patrol deputy experienced symptoms while on regular days off beginning Tuesday, June 23, 2020. He did not return to work while the test results were pending. He subsequently tested COVID-19 positive and is self-isolating at home. Contact tracing indicates that this exposure was likely not work related.
As of the time of this release, 225 inmates have been tested so far, with 114 returning negative. Four of the inmates tested positive. Two of those inmates have been released: one on bail, and one on own recognizance. One inmate has recovered and one remains in jail, isolated and under medical supervision. Testing of staff and inmates is ongoing. Seven employees have returned to work, one is hospitalized and 14 are recovering at home.
Do these deputies not wear masks all the time and, if they do does this mean the masks are not sufficiently or at all effective? I wonder about the surgical masks or really anything that allows the wearer to breathe and yet will trap the microscopic coronavirus-19.