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More than half the inmates at a Roane County jail are being quarantined after COVID-19 outbreak

Officials said that a COVID-19 outbreak at the Roane County Detention Center started in early May.

ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. — A COVID-19 outbreak is putting inmates back into quarantine for the third time this year at the Roane County Detention Center. The sheriff's office said more than half of all the inmates at the jail will be in quarantine until the end of May.

Sheriff Jack Stockton said around seven employees and 25 inmates have had COVID-19 since the first confirmed case of the latest outbreak on May 1. There are seven pods at the Roane County Detention Center. All but two are in quarantine, making up 68% of the jail population.

"Some of our pods are in a COVID quarantine until the 25th," Chief Deputy Tim Hawn said. "Whenever you have inmates that contract COVID and they're in a pod with other inmates, we treat those as if everybody's got COVID because there's a possibility that everybody will, in that pod.”

Hawn said staff is required to practice social distancing and wear a mask inside the detention center, but they're also encouraging inmates to take COVID-19 precautions.

"We do everything that we can to prevent the spread, but it is what it is. It's a never-ending battle," Hawn said.

Dr. Bill Smith researches the coronavirus at AMR Knoxville. He said there are two newer COVID-19 variants that could be spreading, and he said they are likely responsible for the latest Roane County jail outbreak.

"They clearly are more contagious. Fortunately, they do not appear to be as severe as the earlier variants," Smith said.

He said cases across the country have tripled in the last six weeks because of the variants, and because the number of vaccines being administered across the U.S. has rapidly declined.

"It can spread rapidly, and that's what you're obviously seeing in this jail there. That's reflecting what we're seeing nationwide with this increase," Smith said.

The jail said the quarantine procedures are helping prevent the coronavirus from spreading further and said they are expecting to contain the outbreak. Doctors say the best ways to protect yourself from COVID-19 are to get vaccinated, wear a mask and wash your hands.

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