{"id":1319061,"date":"2020-03-24T18:37:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T00:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=995003"},"modified":"2020-03-24T18:37:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T00:37:14","slug":"two-garfield-county-jail-inmates-quarantined-with-potential-covid-19-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/two-garfield-county-jail-inmates-quarantined-with-potential-covid-19-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Garfield County jail inmates quarantined with potential COVID-19 symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Garfield County Sheriff’s Office and Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs.<\/strong>
Post Independent file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Two inmates at the Garfield County jail were recently in isolation with fevers, one of the symptoms of COVID-19, but tested negative for the flu, according to Sheriff Lou Vallario.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth tested negative for the flu, so they obviously had something else,\u201d Vallario said. The pair has not been tested for COVID-19, due to the lack of available tests.<\/p>\n

The inmates, both male, did not have fever symptoms Tuesday. One was released on bond Tuesday afternoon, and the other is no longer in isolation.<\/p>\n

Vallario said the sheriff\u2019s office had reason to believe one man wasn\u2019t being truthful about his symptoms, and he was returned to his cell.<\/p>\n

The Garfield County Public Health Department is only formally notified of positive COVID-19 cases, but are aware of the possible cases at the jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incident command staff at Public Health was alerted to the potential cases in the Garfield County jail and is in frequent contact with county law enforcement officials through the Incident Management Team,\u201d county health spokesperson Carrie Godes said.<\/p>\n

 Testing is still reserved only for critically ill patients. If an inmate requires medical care, he or she will be transported to the hospital, Godes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jail has been working with Public Health staff in anticipation of possible cases and is taking all required precautions such as staff and inmate social distancing measures and increased disinfecting protocols,\u201d Godes said.<\/p>\n

The jail is following recommendations of Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, which state that an individual should not leave isolation until the person has been fever-free for at least 72 hours, other symptoms have improved, and at least seven days have passed since symptoms appeared.<\/p>\n

Vallario said that other inmates in the general population have had influenza and similar diseases recently.<\/p>\n

To the extent it can, Garfield County Jail has already implemented guidelines for detention centers<\/a> that Gov. Jared Polis issued Tuesday, Vallario said.<\/p>\n

The guidelines include limiting gatherings of 10 or more people in a single room within the jail, keeping 6 feet of distance between people, and isolating sick inmates.<\/p>\n

Vallario said his office does have a limited supply of adequate masks, but the staff is not using them all of the time.<\/p>\n

The detention center is doing what it can, but legally cannot close entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t completely close,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re arrested for first-degree assault, or attempted homicide or something, obviously you have to go to jail. That\u2019s state law, and obviously there are constitutional issues that go along with that which supersede any type of immediate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those issues is allowing attorneys to visit clients in jail. The governor\u2019s guidance advises using video conferencing where possible. Other visitation at the Garfield County jail has been suspended.<\/p>\n

The jail is also limiting use of masks to retain supply. And the size of the facility makes it difficult to implement all of the social distancing recommendations.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we have limited (personal protective equipment) for our patrol and detention staff, and of course, each jail has unique size and physical plant issues to contend with,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday morning, the jail had 76 inmates, \u201cthe lowest I\u2019ve seen in years,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is evidence that we are doing our part and very importantly, the other law enforcement agencies and courts are all working with us to achieve those goals,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement agencies have already reduced the number of people booked in the jail by only arresting people suspected charges with mandatory arrest, like violent crimes, domestic violence, failures to appear, and similar charges. Everyone else, like most misdemeanors, is getting a citation.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garfield County Sheriff’s Office and Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs.Post Independent file photo Two inmates at the Garfield County jail were recently in isolation with fevers, one of the symptoms of COVID-19, but tested negative for the flu, according to Sheriff Lou Vallario. \u201cBoth tested negative for the flu, so they obviously had something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1319061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-04 05:13:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}