Nearly four dozen inmates at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County were put into quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, authorities said.
Tests have confirmed 46 inmates have the virus, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said. He added that the sheriff’s office became aware of the outbreak on Monday night.
Another 10 members of the sheriff’s office staff also have contracted the virus.
Kelly said 37 of the 46 inmates with the virus do not have any symptoms.
“We have been through this before,” Kelly said in a text Tuesday morning. “At the peak of COVID, we had 110 cases and managed it well. We will do that again.”
The news came after the jail did regular testing in a housing unit at the jail.
Jail personnel are working with the Alameda County Department of Public Health to deal with the outbreak.
Please check back for updates.
