DANVILLE, Va. – FRIDAY UPDATE
Danville Sheriff Mike Mondul said that as of Friday, 87 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. To date, 140 inmates have tested negative and 22 inmates have refused to be tested.
Among staff, there have been 13 positive tests and 17 negative tests to date. Mondul said he tested negative. Some staff results are still pending, and the department has five new recruits at the academy and five vacancies, according to Mondul.
Mondul said there are no serious COVID-19-related illnesses among inmates or staff.
THURSDAY UPDATE
Danville Sheriff Mike Mondul said a National Guard team helped fit staff members for N95 masks on Thursday.
To date, 73 inmates and 10 staff members at the Danville City Jail have tested positive for COVID-19. 136 inmates tested negative, while approximately 20 refused to be tested. Three staff members tested negative, including Mondul.
Mondul said they are still waiting on test results from the rest of the inmates and staff members.
There are no serious COVID-19-related illnesses among inmates or staff members at this time, according to Mondul.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE
The Danville Sheriff’s Office has updated its total of coronavirus cases at the Danville City Jail on Wednesday morning.
As of Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., there have been 73 positive tests and 136 negative tests.
According to Danville Sheriff Mike Mondul, 10 staff members have tested positive and around 20 inmates refused tests.
TUESDAY UPDATE
The Danville Sheriff’s Office released more COVID-19 test results for inmates at the Danville City Jail on Tuesday night.
To date, there have been 72 positive tests and 21 negative tests. Danville Sheriff Mike Mondul said 20 inmates refused to be tested.
Mondul said there are about a dozen staff members who have been tested, including himself. There are 117 test results pending, including the staff tests. He said those results should come in late Tuesday night.
The jail population has fluctuated between 255 last Wednesday to 252 on Tuesday, which Mondul said is normal.
ORIGINAL STORY
There are new protocols and precautions in place at the Danville City Jail after a COVID-19 outbreak infected 49 inmates.
The jail is implementing enhanced cleaning procedures, providing more personal protective equipment for employees caring for infected inmates and all inmates and staff must now wear masks at all times.
“The number is a little daunting," said Danville Sheriff Michael Mondul.
The first symptomatic case was reported on Wednesday, Sept. 30 and the virus spread from there. Of the 255 total inmates, 63 have been tested for the virus. The rest will be tested starting on Tuesday.
“The good news is that because of the nature of jails, we can isolate people because they’re already basically isolated. So we keep them in their respective cell areas with hopes of containing the virus" said Mondul.
The cause of the outbreak is still unknown. The inmates' symptoms are being closely monitored. Mondul said, so far, their symptoms have been mild.
“No serious health conditions that’s caused anybody to be really sick," said Mondul.
Before the outbreak, staff and employees had the option to wear masks, though masks were not made available to inmates.
“There’s been no mandate for inmates to wear them in local jails. We looked at best practices and we got real competent, very competent jail administrators and that’s a choice that we made at the time in the beginning. And again, for seven months it worked really, really, well, but certainly now things have changed,' said Mondul.
The Danville City Jail joins a long list of other correctional facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks across Virginia. According to the Virginia Department of Health, there have been 68 outbreaks, 5,798 total cases and 26 deaths at correctional facilities in the Commonwealth.
Mundol said he would not do things differently.
“You can’t change the past," said Mondul. “What we can do now is move forward.”