LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Fayette County Detention Center continues to see coronavirus cases in inmates after the first case was reported August 4.
As of Friday, 72 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 with 154 testing negative. Out of roughly 900 inmates, 227 had been tested, according Capt. Matt LeMonds with the Fayette County Detention Center.
Family members of a Fayette County inmate reached out to LEX 18 this week to express concern over conditions at the jail. LeMonds said The detention center is working with the health department to determine best practices for testing and separating inmates.
Inmates have been separated based on positive or negative test results, and there is a separate unit for inmates who have likely been exposed to the virus.
"It's hard to tell at this point, you know, where we're at," LeMonds said. "We're gonna be testing quite a few more inmates all the way through in the next week, just kind of seeing where we're at."
Some staff members have also been tested for the virus, with five positive cases reported.
"We have heightened standards for our staff as far as what protective equipment they're gonna wear," LeMonds said. "We've also been providing more cleaning supplies so that we can kind of help clean better."
Another challenge staff continues to face is a constantly changing inmate population.
"What happens if we have an inmate who has tested positive and gets released? A lot of times we don't have that much advanced notice if an inmates gonna get released," LeMonds explained. "So we're working with the health department providing names, contact information of those inmates so the health department can follow up once they've been released from our custody."
As of Friday, no inmates who tested positive for coronavirus had been hospitalized.
