Two staff members and an inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center tested positive for the virus this week.
Larry Gallegos, a Bernalillo County spokesman, said the two officers have been sent home to quarantine and the inmate was placed in isolation. All pods with possible exposure to the inmate or employees are on lockdown and coworkers have been tested and placed in quarantine awaiting results.
“As with the earlier cases of COVID-19 that have been discovered at MDC during this pandemic, our staff has followed all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health protocols to mitigate any further spread of the coronavirus within the facility,” MDC Chief Greg Richardson said in a statement.
Gallegos said the first case came to light when an MDC officer received positive test results June 20. The jail conducted a facility-wide cleaning and locked down the pods the officer worked in for “inmate medical observation.”
Gallegos said the inmate tested positive June 23 and was placed in a negative pressure room as the facility does contact tracing to identify any possible spread. Then on June 24 a supervisor, with “very limited contact” within the facility, tested positive.
