Montgomery County inmate tests positive for COVID-19, two areas of jail quarantined

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A Montgomery County Jail inmate has tested positive for coronavirus and two others that were previously housed at the jail have tested positive after being transferred to the Correctional Reception Center in Pickaway County.

The results for the infected inmate came back positive on Tuesday, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said. Five other inmates who had contact with the infected person have tested negative, but are still being monitored for any symptoms.

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The case has prompted the jail to go into a “code red” status, which sheriff’s office officials said triggers specific protocol to handle issues like this one.

The infected inmate no longer has symptoms, but is still being monitored and quarantined in a medical cell for 14 days.

Two former Montgomery County inmates that were recently transferred to the Correctional Reception Center tested positive once at the state facility. Those two prisoners were asymptomatic and contact tracing has led the jail staff to quarantine 17 inmates in two areas of the jail.

“Their normal operating procedures is to test everybody coming into CRC,” said Maj. Jeremy Roy. “We immediately started doing tracing within the jail where the two inmates were located at.”

The jail continues to not allow any visitors to the facility.

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