The Cass County Jail has had an outbreak of positive COVID-19 testing with 44 inmates affected, Sheriff Ed Schroder said Wednesday.

“Those who tested positive are experiencing mild symptoms and are being treated with over-the-counter medication by our contracted medical provider,” according to the official statement.

Schroder said, “During this serious situation and lockdown, I want to let families of the inmates know the appropriate care for their loved ones is our top priority.”

The positive tests for the 44 inmates — 23 percent of the jail population — were based on Wednesday testing completions by the Cass County Health Department.

No inmates have had to be hospitalized as of press time.

Schroder and the staff are working to manage the outbreak and are also consulting and getting advice from several health care professionals.

“Since the positive tests, the staff has locked down the jail, had the inmates tested, limited inmate movements, issued facemasks and increased sanitation efforts,” according to the official statement.

The jail staff had already been using a COVID policy developed in early 2020 in conjunction with the Indiana Sheriffs' Association, Indiana Department of Correction, Indiana State Department of Health and the Cass County Health Department.

That includes testing inmates as they come in and keeping them away from the general population to make sure they’re not carrying.

The jail has processed 14 positive inmates since early 2020, and they were quarantined before being put into the general population.

Since the pandemic’s start, six deputies and clerical employees tested positive for the virus, according to a press release.

Four are still quarantined.

None of the jail employees have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Schroder.

Schroder said they don’t know how the virus, something they can’t see, got into the jail.

“I can speculate several things, but I have no idea,” he said.

It could have been a false negative test of an inmate or a staff member.

“We really don’t know what happened,” he said.

However, jail staff is looking over the procedures for effectiveness.

Staff will “do our best to keep that from happening again,” he said.

Schroder also said that he feels lucky and fortunate that the jail has made it without having an outbreak since spring.
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