Santa Cruz Co Inmates Test Negative For Coronavirus Amid Outbreak

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — All inmates in Santa Cruz County jails have tested negative for the coronavirus, the sheriff's office said Friday.

The news comes after the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office announced Monday its first outbreak in local jails. Nine correctional officers were off work after testing positive for the coronavirus as of Monday, and all inmates and remaining correctional officers were tested in recent days.

A tenth officer tested positive and seven other officers were in quarantine after coming into contact with that person, sheriff's office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said Friday.

Nine employees at the Santa Cruz County Mail Jail and one at the Rountree Medium Facility in Watsonville were battling COVID-19, KSBW reported.

Officials are still investigating whether a gathering outside of work was responsible for the outbreak, Keehn said.

"Once the contact tracers have completed their investigation my management team will conduct a thorough internal review to determine next steps," Sheriff Jim Hart said in a news release.

While Hart said he was concerned by the outbreak among staff, he noted that Santa Cruz County's jail is one of the few in the country that has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak among inmates.

Staff and inmates are being tested for the coronavirus weekly, Hart said. Inmates are housed in quarantine units for 14 days after booking and are tested for the coronavirus on the 12th day.

There have been 4,750 COVID-19 cases reported in Santa Cruz County as of Wednesday, the most recent day for which data was readily available as of this writing. Thirty-seven deaths have been linked to the virus and there are 1,131 active known cases.