Those in charge of inmates at the Jackson County Jail have been taking steps to reduce the risk of COVID-19 finding its way there as the number of cases in the state continues to climb.
Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard W. Poynter said Wednesday he is hoping to reduce the inmate population at the jail in Brownstown to provide space for those who might need to be isolated.
“I sent an email last Friday to the prosecutor and public defender as well as some defense attorneys requesting to expedite cases to reduce the jail population enough so we can create space for isolating people in the jail in case we have an outbreak of the virus,” Poynter said.
On March 27, there were 242 inmates at the jail, which has designated capacity of 252.
Sheriff Rick Meyer said each new inmate entering the jail is tested for a fever and isolated for 48 hours.
“We’re also looking at people who may be at high risk to contract the virus,” he said.
Poynter said as of lunchtime Wednesday, there were 205 inmates in the jail.
Most of those released are being done so through time served pleas, he said.
“I just let out several more this afternoon,” Poynter said Wednesday afternoon. “We should be at about 195 now. We have two more full days of hearings. I should have the jail population down between 170 and 180 by Friday. It might even go lower by Friday.”
The Indiana State Department of Health announced Wednesday that 409 additional Hoosiers had been diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 2,565.
Jackson County now has 10 confirmed cases of the virus, up two from Tuesday’s count.
The number of people being tested for COVID-19 also continues to climb. On Wednesday, that number was 14,375, up from 13,373 on Tuesday, according to the state health department.
Stephanie Furlow, director of marketing for Schneck Medical Center, said Wednesday that the Seymour hospital had tested 120 patients, and 52 more people had been tested at the hospital’s new respiratory clinic on the east side of the city.
Sixteen of the tests conducted at the hospital have come back positive, while 12 people tested at the respiratory clinic have tested positive, Furlow reported.
Forty-four of the tests at the hospital are pending, and 36 from the respiratory clinic are pending, Furlow said.
All numbers of confirmed cases and those being tested at Schneck and the clinic represent individuals from Jackson and surrounding counties.
Also, it was reported earlier this week that 299 people in Jackson County had filed unemployment claims through the week ending March 21. That was up 86 claims filed each of the previous two weeks.
Marion County had the most new cases of COVID-19 at 159, according to the state health department. Other counties with more than 10 new cases were Hamilton, 49; Hendricks, 21; Johnson, 17; and Lake, 25.
Statewide, there have now been a total of 65 deaths from COVID-19. This number is increased by 16 from Tuesday’s count. Jackson County currently still has no deaths as a result of the virus.
According to statistics released by the state health department, the age group with the largest percentage of positive cases is 50 to 59 with 19.6% with 52.2% of those who tested positive being female.
The state also is reporting that the highest percentage of deaths from COVID-19, 35.9%, come from the 80-plus demographic.
During his daily news conference, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced he would not be signing any new executive orders Wednesday.
Other orders may be coming in the future if need be, he said, and state officials are monitoring the situation “by the hour.”