Nassau Sheriff Takes Steps To Protect Inmates From Coronavirus

MINEOLA, NY—Nassau County Sheriff James Dzurenda said Thursday his department is doing everything possible to keep staff and inmates safe as the number of coronavirus cases in the county increases. At last check, there were 3,914 confirmed cases of virus in Nassau County. According to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, that's 629 more than reported Wednesday.

"Every new admission into the facility is being tested for the COVID-19 virus during initial processing. All new admissions, if medically cleared during intake screening, are sent to our new admission housing unit and held there for at least 14 days," Sheriff Dzurenda said.

During that time, the sheriff said every new admission is evaluated by medical staff and is monitored closely for any signs or symptoms of the coronavirus. New admissions will not be transferred out of this specialized housing unit unless and until medically cleared and free of all symptoms of illness.

"Any inmate with signs or symptoms of illness will be immediately moved into a separate quarantine unit and monitored closely by medical staff," the sheriff said. "Among other medical monitoring, temperatures will be taken every day for all inmates housed in the quarantine unit."

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Mental health staff is visiting with each inmate in the quarantine unit on a daily basis to ensure they understand why they are there and what the next steps in the process are expected to be, according to the sheriff.

Medical staff will determine whether an inmate showing any symptoms of illness needs to be re-tested. All inmates with positive test results will be screened by medical staff to determine if outside hospitalization is necessary, the sheriff explained.

"Inmates in regular housing units will continue to receive outdoor recreation each day for fresh air, but limited to groups of five to ten at a time to practice social distancing," Dzurenda said.

According to the sheriff, inmates are currently being allowed free minutes of phone time each week in order to maintain communication with family, friends and other support networks.

Sheriff Dzurenda said two facility work crews have been trained on proper COVID-19 cleaning and have been detailed full time each day and into the evening all week specifically targeting the cleaning of all areas of the facility.

"There are no visiting or program activities with outside persons occurring until further notice in order to reduce the possibility of virus introduction into the facility," the sheriff said. "We will continue to do everything possible to protect the well-being of all staff and inmate population."