How long will jail COVID outbreak affect arrests in Pierce County? Here’s what we know
A COVID-19 outbreak at Pierce County Jail is affecting hundreds and limiting who can be booked, but officials say they cannot predict how long it will last.
“We’ll just have to watch it,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Papen. “Like in the greater population in Pierce County, we see how these cases ebb and flow depending on the environment you’re in. It’s a moving target. It’s constantly evolving.”
The Sheriff’s Department oversees the county jail in downtown Tacoma, which can hold 1,300 people.
As of Monday, there were 548 inmates being held and about 167, or 30 percent, were quarantined. The quarantines began last weekend after 25 to 35 inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
More test results are pending and expected to come back within days.
Those quarantined will remain isolated for 14 days from the time they were potentially exposed on recommendations from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
None of the inmates who tested positive for COVID are exhibiting serious symptoms or have needed to be hospitalized, Papen said. They are being treated at the jail’s health clinic.
The outbreak has not changed visitation for those in Pierce County Jail.
All inmates, including those infected by the virus or quarantined, are allowed telephone access and video visitation with friends and family.
Proper social distancing protocols are in place and jail employees are ensuring clean housing environments, Sheriff Ed Troyer said.
Staff members and inmates are required to wear masks at all times. Inmates have their temperatures checked daily and any newcomers are screened before being booked.
No corrections officers have tested positive.
COVID tests and all three vaccines are available at any time to all inmates but less than half of the population has requested a vaccination, Papen said.
Due to the outbreak and rising COVID numbers across Pierce County, only people arrested on suspicion of violent crimes or misdemeanors like DUI or domestic violence will be booked.
Pierce County Jail is not the only facility in the state dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.
The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma recently had 29 people test positive. All of them were recent transfers to the federal immigration detention center, court documents say.
COVID-19 cases have also turned up in King County jails (195), Thurston County Jail (33), Lewis County Jail (12), Clallam County Jail (8), Whatcom County Jail (45), Okanogan County Jail (12), Yakima County Jail (269), Spokane County Detention Services (188), Walla Walla County Jail (27) and Clark County Jail (125).
About one in three inmates in state prisons are known to have had the virus and 39 percent of prisoners have been infected in federal facilities, according to the New York Times.
Some of the largest virus outbreaks in the nation have occurred in jails because there is such high overturn. Many people in county jails are released within days to await a court date.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 2:50 PM.
