After a federal inmate, who had been transferred from COVID-19 hotspot Bledsoe County Correctional Complex, tested positive for the novel coronavirus at the Hamilton County Jail, all staff and inmates were tested. All of them were negative.
The news came on the same day Tennessee officials reported the first death of a state inmate who tested positive for the coronavirus - a 67-year-old man who was among the nearly 1,300 inmates who tested positive at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a Middle Tennessee state prison managed by private prison operator CoreCivic.
Here in Hamilton County, 332 inmates and 177 staffers were tested on April 30. The inmate who had been transferred from the Bledsoe County prison on April 14 was also retested. The result was negative.
"These test results reinforce the fact [that] our corrections personnel are taking consistent and responsible actions to protect the health and safety of our inmates during this global pandemic," Sheriff Jim Hammond said in a statement. "So far, we have been fortunate to have been able to mitigate exposure to COVID-19 within our facility and this has been largely possible by their attention to protocol and their strict adherence to medical advice."
In early April, at least two nurses and a doctor left their jobs at the Bledsoe County prison, west of Pikeville, Tennessee, after they were told they couldn't wear protective masks while working inside.
That followed an April 1 state correction department news release that reported three inmates at the prison in Bledsoe, which houses more than 2,500 inmates, were possibly exposed to a non-state employee who tested positive for COVID-19.
By April 14 - the same day the Bledsoe County inmate was transferred to Hamilton County - the state was assessing whether to test the inmates, the Times Free Press reported at the time. The state began testing the following week.
Now, more than 580 inmates have tested positive for the virus, making Bledsoe County one of the counties with the highest number of cases per resident across the country, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The same goes for Trousdale County - the country's number one "hot-spot" as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the newspaper.
The Bledsoe County inmate who was transferred to Hamilton County showed no symptoms of the virus at the time of transfer.
He transferred to Hamilton County because he had completed his state sentence and had entered into federal custody. The decision was made by the U.S. Marshals Service to house him in Hamilton County, sheriff's office spokesman Matt Lea told the Times Free Press.
No other Bledsoe County prison inmates were transferred.
Lea said no testing has been done at Silverdale Detention Center, which is also managed by CoreCivic. But, he said, the sheriff's office is "working with the Hamilton County Health Department and CoreCivic to establish needed resources and a plan to test."
No inmates were transferred from the Hamilton County Jail to Silverdale once the initial inmate tested positive, Lea said.
Across the state, at least six state inmates who've tested positive are hospitalized, including one in serious condition.
Hamilton County Jail officials say they have the ability to contain an outbreak.
Armed with a containment plan they say was devised after consulting with Hamilton County Health Department officials and Erlanger Health System personnel, jail officials have reiterated their ability to "humanely quarantine inmates should the need arise to isolate infected inmates from the general population."
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