Sheriff: 60 inmates in the Ingham County Jail have COVID-19

MASON - Sixty people detained in the Ingham County Jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth said Monday. 

Cases have skyrocketed since Nov. 2, when an inmate who had cleared the 14-day quarantine period upon his entry to the jail tested positive before being moved to another facility for treatment, Wriggelsworth said. 

"Our community is saturated with COVID," Wriggelsworth said. "We're doing everything in our power to try to wrap our arms around this." 

Wriggelsworth closed the inmate intake at the jail Friday. All new arrests were taken to either the Lansing Police Department lockup or the East Lansing Police Department lockup. Livingston County's jail will also be taking some of the new arrests. 

© Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal "We've been playing defense against an invisible offense," Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth says about COVID-19 during a Monday, Nov. 16 press conference in Mason.

Intake will continue to be put on hold until Thursday, Wriggelsworth said. 

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The 60 cases are about 20% of the population, Wriggelsworth said. The jail can hold 444 people but has about 290 inmates currently. 

Most of the people who tested positive are asymptomatic and none have needed medical intervention, Wriggelsworth said. 

Inmates are attending all court hearings virtually and the systems for meals and medicine have been modified, he said. 

There are 12 deputies who have tested positive, Wriggelsworth said. Three are currently off work with a positive result and three or four are off with symptoms or were exposed. 

“We at the jail and the health department have taken this seriously since day one,” Wriggelsworth said. “No sheriff wants this in their jail.” 

Any new inmates at the jail have to quarantine for 14 days before they are released into general population, Wriggelsworth said. 

Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said the rise in cases at the jail matches the rise in cases in the county and across the state. It's not atypical, she said, to have outbreaks in congregate settings. 

“We’re seeing more cases everywhere,” Vail said. “Just add it to the same level of alarming as everywhere else.” 

About a dozen inmates tested positive in June but the jail has escaped any other outbreaks. 

Check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Sheriff: 60 inmates in the Ingham County Jail have COVID-19