Fourth Bristol County Sheriff staff member tests positive for COVID-19

DARTMOUTH – A health care professional at the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office has tested positive for COVID-19.

“She has no symptoms and is feeling well,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson said Tuesday.

According to a BCSO spokesperson, the health care professional, a mental health clinician, was tested on April 8 and received the results over the weekend. She is expected to make a full recovery and return to work when cleared by her doctor.

She was in the facility on April 8-10 but had extremely limited contact with staff and inmates. All BCSO staffers inside the correctional facilities are wearing ppe equipment at all times, and mental health consultations with inmates are being done between a plexiglass partition.

She is the fourth Bristol County staff member to test positive for COVID-19. A nurse who tested positive last month has recovered and returned to duty, and a K9 Officer who tested positive earlier this month is returning to duty on Tuesday. A Corrections Officer that tested positive earlier this month remains at home but has reported feeling well and is expected back soon.

Over the past month, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office has instituted many protocols to protect inmates, detainees and staff from the Coronavirus outbreak. Some of those measures include:

· All employees were given masks that must be worn inside the secure perimeter of our facilities. All inmates and detainees have also been given masks to wear for protection.

· All areas of the facility are being cleaned\disinfected every day on every shift.

· All staff members are being screened before entering the buildings; new arriving inmates are being screened before being accepted into custody.

· In-person visitation has been suspended to limit the number of people coming in and out.

“The policies and procedures we have in place to deal with infectious diseases are working and the team here has been doing an amazing job,” Sheriff Hodgson said. “No one in our incarcerated population has tested positive for COVID-19, and of the four positive tests among staff, one is already back, one returning today, and the other two are feeling well. These next two weeks are expected to be the surge in Massachusetts, so I hope everyone stays safe. We’ll get through this together.”