GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — The Guilford County Detention Center in Greensboro is dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak after 26 inmates tested positive for the virus, according to a release from Sheriff Danny Rogers.
Rogers said three inmates began running a fever last week. Those inmates were placed in quarantine and later tested positive for COVID-19. Twenty-three other inmates from the same housing pod were then given COVID-19 tests, which all came back positive on Tuesday.
Rogers said the 23 new cases are all asymptomatic and the virus has not spread beyond the one housing pod. Medical personnel at the jail will continue to closely monitor the inmates.
The sheriff’s office is working with the Guilford County Health Department and Emergency Management to test the remaining inmates and jail employees and find out how the current cases were contracted.
Rogers said all inmates and staff of the High Point jail will be tested for COVID-19 very soon.
The sheriff's office has put into place several COVID-19 safety protocols for the jails since the pandemic began.
- Requiring new inmates to quarantine for 14 days before arriving at the jail
- Sanitizing housing pods twice daily
- Temperature checks for all employees entering the detention center
- All inmates and staff are required to wear masks when not in their rooms or offices