An entire shift at the Marion County Correctional Facility has been placed in quarantine after one employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
In the time the shift has been in quarantine, two more employees have tested positive, Sheriff Berkley Hall said this week.
A fourth employee has been tested, but the results were unavailable as of press-time on Tuesday.
Prior to workers contracting the virus, everything was being done to maintain a clean and safe environment for both the employees and the inmates, according to Hall. They have already been wearing masks and doing constant cleaning, which is documented, he said.
Hall said none of the inmates have contracted it so it must have come inside by one of the employees.
“A perfect example: it comes from the outside,” he said.
The sheriff said it started about two weeks ago when one employee tested positive, and he immediately pulled the entire shift as a precaution. Slowly during that time the other two tested positive.
The workers already are wearing masks and gloves so Hall said he believes the inmates are safe. He said he has been in regular contact with the Department of Health and the Department of Corrections to make sure no one else contracts the virus.
Four inmates have confirmed cases of the coronavirus throughout the state, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ website; two cases have been confirmed in the state penitentiary at Parchman and two others at the Winston-Choctaw County Correctional Facility. A total of seven Department of Corrections employees have been confirmed with the sickness across the state. Visitation has been suspended through May.
