COVID-19 cases on the rise at Tippecanoe County Jail

Positive cases have ballooned over the past two weeks from one to 20, according to Sheriff Bob Goldsmith.

Outbreak of covid-19 cases among inmates.

News 18's joe paul was there today to ask how jail officials are mitigating the spread.

He joins us live to share how many inmates have tested positive.

Joe?

The outbreak at the tippecanoe county jail began after an inmate tested positive on november 30th.

As we previously reported, officials believe that case stems from a cellmate who tested positive shortly after being released.

And the illness has continued to spread through the jail since then.

< "we've been lucky for nine months to keep it out of there.

We knew at some point at some point it was going to be here and unfortunately it is."

Cases of covid-19 at the tippecanoe county jail have ballooned from one to twenty over the past two weeks.

According to sheriff bob goldsmith.

"i don't want anybody to be sick.

To have 20 of about 460 is a low number but again, one's too many, in my opinion, inside a facility like this."

The inmates are isolated together to contain the illness to one area of the jail.

None have been hospitalized or died.

Jail commander tom lehman says his staff are taking extra precautions to stop the spread.

"we're still doing temperature checks on them for our nursing staff, monitoring any signs or symptoms for each individual inmate that comes in.

On a daily basis, between our inmate workers, as well as our own staff, we're trying to keep as much of the common areas wiped down with disinfectants as we can."

The jail has so far been able to avoid a worst-case scenario: a complete lockdown of the facility.

In that case, goldsmith says inmates could be restricted to their cells for as many as 23 hours a day.

"thank goodness we haven't had to do a lot of major things like locking down the facility, which nobody wants to do that.

That's an absolute nightmare.

We don't want to do that."

Seven staff members at the tippecanoe county sheriff's office are also out after testing positive for covid-19.

Goldsmith says he's discussed with inmates the potential of a lockdown.

Which could occur due to the spread of the virus or staffing concerns.

"but they know if we have to that that's what we'll do and that could either be because of positive cases in the jail or our staff's infected to the point where we don't have staff."

The sheriff's office is using a rapid test to screen symptomatic inmates and staff.

Goldsmith says the test only works on symptomatic people.

He's unsure if all 20 cases stem from that single inmate or if a staff member could also have brought the virus into the facility.

Reporting live in lafayette, joe paul, news 18.

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