Inmates Test Positive for COVID at Washita County Justice Center

Several inmates at the Washita County Justice Center tested positive for COVID-19 last month, but Sheriff Roger Reeve said the facility is COVID-free now.

He said the two-week quarantine period ended on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7, and “that none of the inmates showed signs or symptoms” of the virus.”

The sheriff explained how it all unfolded beginning on about Tuesday, Aug. 11. “We (our deputies) picked up a Department of Corrections inmate from the correctional center in Davis. They didn’t tell our deputies he had been tested for COVID-19, so we put him in with other inmates in a pod.”

Reeve said, “The following Monday the State Health Department called us and were trying to find out where this guy was. He had tested positive,” the sheriff noted.

The inmate was in the pod with others. “Two others tested positive, but were not showing any signs or symptoms,” Reeve added.

“We tested other inmates in the pod. Everyone was in the same area. Three more tested positive so that gave us six, but again, none were showing signs or symptoms.”

The sheriff said one bonded out but never got sick. “We kept the other five together. We did the quarantine of them for two weeks from the time of the last test and that period expired on Labor Day,” Reeve reiterated.

He emphasized, “They never showed any signs or symptoms of illness while they were quarantined.”