LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - One of Nebraska’s largest county jails is locked down after an outbreak of the coronavirus among inmates, and a state prison inmate with the virus has died.
Lancaster County officials said Tuesday that their jail was locked down as a precaution after 12 inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
All of the ill inmates are being treated in the jail’s infirmary and more testing is being done in the two housing units where they had been held.
Officials said it’s not clear how the virus reached the jail’s general population. The jail screens new inmates and holds them in quarantine for 10 days before releasing them into the general population. Previously, nine cases of COVID-19 were discovered during booking at the jail.
All inmates and staff are required to wear masks inside the jail.
Separate from the jail outbreak, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Tuesday that an inmate in his 70s died at a Lincoln hospital. The cause of death hasn’t been determined. The department said the inmate had COVID-19 and other underlying medical conditions.
The inmate was serving a sentence for sexual assault of a minor out of Lancaster County, but his name wasn’t released. A grand jury will investigate his death.
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