A contract employee in the Main Jail medical unit mistakenly told a custody deputy that he tested negative for the novel coronavirus, and that deputy served two shifts in the Psychiatric Health Unit before his positive result was discovered, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
Hundreds of custody staff and inmates are being tested in response to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Main Jail, 4436 Calle Real near Santa Barbara.
As of Wednesday, 21 custody employees had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, along with four inmates, including men in at least two different housing units.
The Sheriff’s Department decided to mass test everyone in custody at the Main Jail — about 550 people — after inmates from both units tested positive in mid-June.
As of Wednesday, 225 inmates had been tested, with four testing positive and 114 testing negative, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Raquel Zick said.
One of the inmates has recovered, one is isolated and under medical supervision in the Main Jail, one was released on bail, and one was released on their own recognizance, she said.
Two more custody deputies and one part-time employee in the custody records office had positive test results this week, as well as one patrol deputy, she added.
Two of the cases don’t appear to be work-related — one of the custody deputies who was on military leave from work and the patrol deputy, she added.
Most of the Main Jail custody division employees who have tested positive did not have direct contact with inmates, according to the Sheriff’s Department, but several do as part of their jobs.
One of the custody deputies was tested “after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms on his days off” and was “mistakenly notified that the results of his test were negative,” Zick said in a statement.
He returned to work once he was asymptomatic — it is unclear how long he waited — and was assigned to guard duty at the Psychiatric Health Facility, a 16-bed inpatient center.
“Unfortunately, his test result had been misread by a contract medical employee,” Zick said. “Once the error had been found, the employee was immediately notified and sent home to self-isolate. The custody deputy, who had worked two shifts at the PHF, was wearing an N95 mask. There has been no indication that there has been any COVID-19 spread at the PHF.”
The deputy reported COVID-19 symptoms on June 22, was tested on June 23, became asymptomatic, got the (wrong) negative test result, and then went back to work, Zick said.
“One shift was July 1 and one was prior to that,” she said. He worked only part of the July 1 shift, because that’s when staff discovered his test result had been positive.
The county contracts with Wellpath for medical services in the Main Jail, and the Sheriff’s Department has said the novel coronavirus testing for inmates is being done in-house.
“All the testing that we’re doing of our employees is being done by them,” Zick added.
More than 330 Sheriff’s Department employees have been tested in recent weeks related to this outbreak, including staff in the custody division and others at the Calle Real headquarters who had contact with those staff members, according to Zick.
The head of the custody operations division, Chief Vincent Wasilewski, tested positive, according to Sheriff Bill Brown, as have three lieutenants, one sergeant, multiple deputies and at least six civilian staff members in the custody records department.
Neither the Public Health Department nor the Sheriff’s Department has said how the outbreak within the Main Jail might have started.
Custody staff are supposed to wear personal protective equipment, and inmates wear masks when they leave their housing units, when they are transported to court and while in court, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
