More than 50 infected in COVID-19 outbreak at King County Jail

The Associated Press

SEATTLE — A significant COVID-19 outbreak is happening inside the King County Jail, with 19 cases detected on Monday alone.

The outbreak accounts for most of the 46 total cases among the in-custody population at the Seattle facility and inside the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent as of Wednesday, Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention officials told The Seattle Times.

Additionally, seven department employees who work at the Seattle jail have tested positive since March 9, spokesperson Noah Hagland said in a Wednesday email.

Of the most recent cases, one person tested positive during booking while the others were identified after reporting symptoms or through contact and surveillance testing in housing units, Hagland wrote.

People in custody who have tested positive for the virus have been moved to the Kent facility, which has been used to house those exhibiting symptoms and those considered at high risk of contracting the virus.

Jail Health Services plans to administer COVID-19 tests to all others in custody at the Seattle jail this week.

People in custody age 65 and older have received vaccinations, and Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention employees who work in secure detention recently became eligible to get their shots.

Most incarcerated people younger than 65 aren’t eligible to get the vaccine until the end of March, but vaccination clinics are tentatively being planned to start administering doses on April 6, Hagland said in his email.

More in News

Race Street closures set this week in Port Angeles

Race Street will be closed between Eighth and 10th… Continue reading

Jefferson Transit to use an electric bus

Agency’s future is with alternative-fuel vehicles

Northwest Maritime Center volunteer Brad Bebout, left, stands ready to assist team Beasts From the East, Ivan Medvedev and Egor Klevak, front, both from Seattle, as they finish first the 70-mile paddle from Tacoma to Port Townsend on Saturday morning. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Race to Alaska starts today

Beasts from the East wins SEVENTY/48

Fire crews fight beach blaze, structure fire

Two fires over the weekend in the Four Seasons… Continue reading

McDonald Creek fish passage gets no bids again

Contractors say it’s too ‘intricate, tricky’

Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund 2023 grant cycle announced

Seattle Foundation opened the 2023 grant cycle of the Benjamin… Continue reading

Best of the Peninsula.
Nomination round begins for Best of Peninsula

Nominations are being accepted for the Best of the Peninsula in both… Continue reading

Clallam County Fire District 2 firefighters, with assistance from surrounding districts, work to extinguish fire of beach logs and grasses that scorched a stretch of beach along the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the north end of Four Seasons Ranch and threatened numerous homes on Saturday. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Beach blaze contained at Morse Creek

Saturday fire worried homeowners, but no structures affected

Most Read