Henry County Sheriff Reginald B. Scandrett has instituted new Covid-19 policies and procedures. There were two employee deaths in January due to COVID-19 very early after the Sheriff’s inauguration. This prompted the Sheriff to review the COVID-19 protocol that was in place.
Finding a temporary measure yet nothing concrete, the Sheriff implemented a new policy to make sure the Jail is following the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Sheriff Scandrett immediately identified changes within the jail to ensure the safety of all Henry County Sheriff’s Office Jail staff and inmates. Upon arriving at the Henry County Jail, an arrestee is immediately tested for COVID-19 and quarantined for fourteen days to ensure that the new inmate is not showing symptoms for the virus and to protect the inmates and employees that are already in the jail.
Additionally, the inmates are tested weekly and the employees are tested bi-weekly. As a result of this rigorous policy, it was determined that two weeks ago 23 inmates were reported to have COVID-19. The Sheriff then ordered for all inmates to be tested and the total number of inmates reported on February 23 with the virus rose to 60 inmates. Further adjustments were made and the most recent test results reported a decline in positive tests totaling 48 inmates. Inmates who have tested positive have been quarantined and are also being treated by medical personnel inside of the jail.
Sanitization regiments were also implemented by hiring a company certified in COVID-19 mitigation for the initial cleaning and to train our personnel on cleaning strategies. The Sheriff believes that these regulations will help in preventing future infections. “One of the first priorities of this office is to ensure the safety and well-being of the jail employees and the inmates we house”, says Henry County Sheriff Reginald B. Scandrett.
The existing COVID-19 protocols were modified significantly to reflect the most recent recommendations made by the CDC. Due to ongoing changes in medical science and technological advances, there will be periodic reviews of the COVID-19 policy and procedures to ensure relevance and compliancy.
They should stop people from coming in for small charges. That will stop the spread. My son was just there for 6 months until 3 weeks ago, and he said that the only thing that was different than last year was they were spraying everything with the hazmat suits on. He said there’s more positive cases now than last year.