Nearly 60 SCSO Employees Out With COVID-19: Sheriff

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — A week after a COVID-19 outbreak hit the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, forcing about 100 employees to stay home from work because they either tested positive for the virus or exhibited symptoms, the virus is still working its way through the agency.

As of Monday evening, 56 employees had tested positive for coronavirus and were home from work, Kaitlyn R. Perez, community affairs director, said. Another 26 had COVID-19 symptoms but hadn’t tested positive.

A week earlier, on Aug. 23, 94 employees were out sick from work due to coronavirus symptoms and 60 tested positive.

Many employees had been coming to work despite testing positive, Perez said. SCSO leaders urged workers who were sick to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus.

She said the agency is no longer quarantining employees who have been exposed to coronavirus, though. The sheriff’s office is “following masking, (temperature) checks and other exposure protocols, she added.

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At Sarasota County Jail, 29 inmates were positive with coronavirus Monday, down from 48 the week before, Perez said. There are also 25 corrections deputies out sick with COVID-19.

She also said there were “no reports of any additional symptomatic inmates, even those who are positive are almost all asymptomatic (and) no deaths and no current hospitalizations.”