Louisiana Voice

Concentrations of population continue to be a hot spot for outbreaks of the coronavirus and the St. Tammany Parish Detention Center is the latest such facility to be affected, according to a statement issued by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office on Saturday.

A prisoner has tested positive for COVID-19 after suffering symptoms earlier in the week and four others are now suffering from low-grade fevers, one symptom of the virus. They have been isolated in a quarantined housing unit and are awaiting results from tests, the sheriff’s office said.

A jail medical facility spokesperson refused comment on a report that the outbreak was more widespread than a single inmate. “We can neither confirm nor deny any information,” the spokesperson said. LouisianaVoice was referred to the sheriff’s office but a call to that office got only a recording saying the office was open on weekdays.

The facility houses 57 inmates and the mother of one inmate told LouisianaVoice that she was informed by her son that prisoners have no protective masks or gloves, items that are limited to employees.

But a statement released by the sheriff’s office said all CDC guidelines for sanitation are being followed by inmates and staff and that additional cleaning supplies and clothing and linen exchanges have been provided for all 57 inmates in the affected housing areas.

The inmate who tested positive was placed in isolation after he became symptomatic, officials said, adding that all other inmates in the same housing unit are being monitored and that they were having their temperatures checked twice daily.

Prisons, along with nursing homes, are considered to be ideal breeding grounds for the COVID-19 virus because of the necessarily close proximity to each other in confined areas.