81 Tarrant County jailers have COVID-19 weeks after sheriff tests positive
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office is down almost 100 jailers this week who have either tested positive with COVID-19 or are in quarantine pending results, according to a state report.
The sheriff’s office reported to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards on Wednesday that 81 jailers tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
This comes just more than two weeks after Sheriff Bill Waybourn announced that he had coronavirus. Lt. Jennifer Gabbert, a spokesperson for the office, didn’t return an email on Nov. 30 that asked for an update on the sheriff’s condition.
Waybourn, 61, began to show symptoms on Nov. 13 and he quarantined. He tested positive on Nov. 14.
Waybourn experienced mild symptoms, Gabbert said in a news release on Nov. 20. There were three people with whom the sheriff had been in close contact during a high-risk period, she said. They have recently tested negative for COVID-19.
Sixty-nine inmates have tested positive as of Wednesday, 32 are waiting for test results and 1,218 are isolating, according to the state report. Three inmates died after testing positive for COVID-19.
Tarrant County reported more sick jailers on Wednesday than Dallas, Bexar and Harris counties. Travis County was not listed.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 5:19 PM.
