The Hart County Jail, in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak, has had 40 more inmates and staff members test positive for the virus.
Jailer Israel Bergenson last week announced that 69 inmates and five staff members had tested positive for the virus. Tests were conducted after a few inmates became ill.
Bergenson said on Friday, the people who originally tested negative were retested, with 38 additional inmates and two staff members testing positive.
“Everybody is still having minor symptoms, basically, except one; we took him to the hospital last night (Thursday) but he’s back and doing good today,” Bergenson said. “So everything is working out good so far.”
The facility, as of early Monday morning, housed 147 inmates. The jail, according to its website, has 17 full time deputies, seven part time deputies and 11 administrative personnel.
The Grayson County Detention Center (GCDC) last publicly released COVID-19 information regarding its inmates and employees on June 29 when the facility announced it had, at that time, conducted 30 COVID tests among inmates; 23 tested positive. Nineteen deputies had been tested at that time, with two deputies also testing positive.
The GCDC houses between 500 and 600 inmates (at three locations) at any given time, and has about 120 staff members.
(Photo: Hart County Jailer Israel Bergenson)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
