Last Updated on July 22, 2020, 6:08 PM | Published: July 22, 2020
One of the nurses who delivers medical care to Oklahoma County Jail detainees has tested positive for COVID-19.
The Oklahoma County Detention Center (Jail) received information that one of its nurses tested positive and directed her to isolate at home until she tests again. Jail spokesperson Mac Mullings confirmed the information on the infection to Free Press Wednesday afternoon.
The nurse was not on duty when they received word of her positive test Mullings told Free Press.
He did not know how many days she had worked between the test being administered and their receiving the results today.
Most of the medical staff on her shift work in close proximity but wear N95 masks and PPE according to our sources.
Medical staff are employees of Turn Key Health, the corporation contracted to deliver medical services to the detainees.
Detainee infections continue
At present, the Jail has 30 total inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 — 13 female and 17 male according to Mullings.
The Oklahoma County Detention Center or Jail has an increasing number of detainees who have tested positive since the first one June 1.
Second nurse to test positive
He said this is the second nurse to test positive at the jail.
One other nurse tested positive at an earlier date, went home to isolate, and then tested negative on her second test.
Attempts to control spread
This comes after Jail administrators have been working to keep detainees who have tested positive isolated from the rest of the population who have tested negative or who are not suspected of being COVID-positive.
Detainees testing positive are held in pods with others who have also tested positive.
New administration
At the end of June the Jail transferred administration from the Oklahoma County Sheriff to the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority (Jail Trust) with Greg Williams, a professional corrections administrator, heading the new administration at the Jail.
The first detainee to be reported by the jail as testing positive for COVID-19 was on Monday, June 1 while the Jail was still under the administration of Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor.
Then, the Sheriff’s leadership reported to the Jail trust on June 29 that they had their first staff member to test positive for COVID-19 June 29.
Free Press left voicemails on three different leader’s phones at Turn Key Health late Monday afternoon. No one from that organization returned those calls by publication time.
COVID-19 is the respiratory disease that results from being infected with the novel coronavirus that has reached pandemic proportions around the world and has taken a high toll in the U.S. The disease was first discovered as community spread cases in early winter of this year.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
