Spalding County Inmate Tests Positive For COVID-19

Tuesday at approximately 12:30 pm, we learned that an inmate worker assigned to the kitchen detail at the Spalding County Jail tested positive for Covid-19.

This is the first that we have had at the Spalding County Jail since the beginning of the worldwide outbreak. Unfortunately, this day eventually came due to the number of inmates, arrestees, and staff we have in our facility on a daily basis. The hard work and attention to detail by our detention staff and all of our employees across the agency has proven very successful in delaying what we hoped against hope would not occur in our jail. 

Dr. Robert Hall responded to the jail and we have met with him regarding the next steps that we will take to stop, contain, and further prevent its spread to inmates and staff. He has also reached out and is conferring with Dr. Hagos who is a specialist in infectious diseases and control and is receiving input from him. 

These steps will include the immediate quarantine of all inmate workers that we use daily across the facility. We will shortly begin the testing process for those inmate workers, and Spalding County Detention staff members that any of them have come into contact with and go from there. 

Affected areas will be deep cleaned and misted prior to inmates and staff being allowed to re-enter those areas. The jail kitchen will also be deep cleaned and misted. We are now in the process of working through the issue of how we will cook for and feed our inmates for the next 7-14 days. 

We will continue to quarantine all incoming arrestees and inmates, and we will continue all booking safety protocols that have been put in place since the Covid-19 crisis began. In the meantime we will continue to follow all guidelines recommended by the CDC including social distancing, checking of temperatures of staff and arrestees when coming in to work and entering the jail, a continued reduction in physical contact in and about the facility, and on calls for service when possible.

Sheriff Darrell Dix stated, “The Spalding County Sheriff’s Office Detention staff and employees’ have done a tremendous job in preventing Covid-19 from entering the jail. We took all of the precautions that we could to stop it from happening and we were successful in those efforts up to this point. We will continue those efforts. When you are coming into contact with people on calls, while making arrests, and holding people in custody, unfortunately all the precautions you can take sometimes fall short when dealing with something you can’t see.”