Over 100 infected in latest COVID-19 outbreak at Sonoma County Jail

More than 100 people detained in the Sonoma County Jail — 1 in 7 — have tested positive for COVID-19, and 250 are on lockdown in an outbreak that began there almost two weeks ago.

As of Tuesday, health authorities determined that 101 of the 701 inmates incarcerated at the Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa have contracted COVID-19 since a jail employee tested positive on Dec. 28. The first inmate infected in the outbreak tested positive on Dec. 31.

As of Tuesday, 26 jail staff have either been exposed to or contracted the infection, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The outbreak began when a person who is contracted to work at the facility and who is not employed by the Sheriff’s Office tested positive at the end of last month, jail overseer Assistant Sheriff Eddie Engram previously said.

On Dec. 29, a day after the contracted employee tested positive, a Sheriff’s Office employee then tested positive.

Two days later, an inmate who was experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 was confirmed positive, and on Jan. 1, screening found an inmate in another module had also contracted the virus.

Some of these infections have passed during this period, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Juan Valencia said. No one has been seriously ill or hospitalized.

Three housing units in the jail are isolating due to exposure.

When the outbreak was first reported, two units were locked down after screening detected positive cases among inmates in those areas. In the interim, the virus spread to another module.

Inmates in these units are encouraged to submit to regular screening. Each lockdown will be lifted when all in the units test negative for 10 days, officials said.

The outbreak at the jail comes amid widespread local transmission of the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus. An average of more than 750 residents are testing positive every day, according to the latest Sonoma County public health data.

Test positivity, the share of COVID-19 tests that turn up positive, is nearly 18%, double the positivity rate during last year's winter surge, according to county health officials.

“It’s not a surprise that it’s blowing up in the jail. Omicron is so contagious, and it’s just spreading unbelievably fast,” said Dr. Jenny Fish, a local hospice physician and one of the founders of HPEACE, a health care advocacy organization.

Jail is one of the “highest risk settings” for the spread of COVID-19, Fish added, due to the unfeasibility of social distancing.

“Once the virus gets in there, it’s impossible to stop,” she said.

Incarcerated populations are at particularly high risk for getting serious cases of COVID-19, said Dr. Ele Lozares-Lewis, who works as an HIV consultant in the jail once a month.

“It’s a population that tends to have a lot more exposures, a lot less access generally to medical care and a lot of medical co-morbidities,” said Lozares-Lewis.

Still, she said, the jail’s handling of the last outbreak over the summer gives her some hope the Sheriff’s Office is responding properly — by locking down units, requiring N95 masks for all employees and offering vaccines to people booked.

Sonoma County Public Defender Brian Morris is concerned about the impact the outbreak will have on his clients.

“This outbreak makes life even more challenging and stressful for people incarcerated at the jail,” Morris said. “Their time out of their cells is further restricted, they fear becoming infected, and their ability to communicate with people outside the jail is extremely limited. On a positive note, the jail staff is working collaboratively with our office to achieve effective legal visits with clients who are in the quarantined sections of the jail.”

Reporter Martin Espinoza contributed to this report.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.