Jan 15, 2022

Sheriff: COVID-19 outbreak at Geary County Jail

Posted Jan 15, 2022 6:00 PM

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Geary County Sheriff Dan Jackson has confirmed that a COVID-19 outbreak was identified Friday in the county jail. A number of inmates complained of symptoms. "So we got with our nursing staff up there and we started testing people. We ended up with nine inmates positive in two pods ( combined ),  and at that point we had already made contact with the Health Department and they said well just stop testing right now. You're really just wasting your tests because we're pretty certain that it's spread throughout the jail."

Jackson said the Sheriff's Department has stopped all extraditions, is not releasing any prisoners to any other counties and is not picking any prisoners up. "Kind of trying to hold what we've got inside the jail right now."

Jackson noted that the Department has never stopped having COVID protocols in place but the new variant is super-easy to catch. "On Tuesday the Health Department will be coming out and they'll test every single inmate as well as all of the staff, all of the corrections officers, all the Deputies and all the admin staff. We'll all get tested and then we'll have a baseline of where we're at, at that point, and then we'll just go from there."

Symptoms experienced by inmates have ranged from a head cold to a mild fever. Jackson said they'll be provided all medical care that is required.