Inmate in Travis County Jail tests positive for COVID-19

AUSTIN, Texas - An inmate in the Travis County Jail has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

According to medical professionals at the jail, a COVID-19 test came back positive on May 28 from an inmate that had been in custody for three days.

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The Travis County Sheriff's Office says the inmate was in a quarantine unit for all three of those days. Police say the inmate was taken into quarantine upon intake due to the inmate's answers to the CDC guideline questions. The inmate has been moved to the Quarantine - Confirmed Positive Unit. 

Police say all inmates in quarantine are housed in single-occupancy cells that utilize an energy recovery exhaust system, meaning each cell independently exhausts air out. "The HVAC is not a recycled airflow system. Travis County Jail is, therefore, remarkably well suited for this emergency quarantine," the sheriff's office stated in a press release. 

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Police say contact tracing is currently underway and anyone determined to have been in close proximity to this inmate will be notified and will be advised of the medical resources available to them. 

"TCSO will continue to rely on the medical guidance and expertise of healthcare providers to ascertain when inmates in the care and custody of the Travis County Jail should be tested for COVID-19 or any other infectious disease," the sheriff's office said in a press release. 

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