Another Santa Clara County correctional deputy is in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, intensifying concerns about broader jail virulence that have prompted courts and authorities throughout the country to improvise ways to reduce incarcerated populations and dampen outbreak risks.
The infected officer joins two other jail deputies and a patrol deputy who have contracted the new coronavirus, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. That’s in addition to at least one county jail inmate also confirmed to have been infected.
Three of the deputies are at home quarantining, while one has been hospitalized in stable condition, the sheriff’s office said, which added that the infected inmate is isolated in the infirmary at the Main Jail in San Jose. It is unclear where they got the virus, which has become prevalent to the point where the entire state of California is under stay-at-home or sheltering orders to slow its spread.
The sheriff’s office also confirmed that an ill inmate who died Thursday at the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas did not have COVID-19, after concerns about his symptoms during booking prompted the medical examiner to test his body for the virus.
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