Cass County Jail inmate tests positive for COVID-19

Cass County reported it’s first case of the coronavirus within the jail walls. On April 7th, a man in his 30's was arrested by Fargo Police Department and brought to Cass County Jail, where he was met by medical personnel and taken into isolation.

"During their assessment of this individual, they started noticing symptoms that were consistent with COVID-19," said Sheriff Jesse Jahner of the Cass County Sheriff's Office.

The inmate, who has not been named yet, tested positive Saturday afternoon. Officials say he will remain in isolation until jail leaders are certain that he is no longer sick and can be moved.

"That person will continue to be isolated and monitored by our medical staff and any additional people that will be coming in will certainly do the exact same process as we've done with this person," said Sheriff Jahner. "Obviously, it worked. We caught this person before they could make it back to our general population, so we feel very confident in the process we have in place."

At this time, Cass County Jail is screening its employees before every shift. Personal protective equipment, or PPE, is worn by all employees. The roughly 160 inmates are given the option to wear masks and gloves and are being provided with sanitation spray. Cass County officials say they are constantly updating their processes.

"If there's new information that comes out, we may look to potentially change something,” said Sheriff Jahner. “We're always looking to make things better, of course. We'll continue to evaluate that on a day to day basis, but for right now we feel like our procedure is really sound."

Several intake officers that came into contact with the inmate are at home in self-isolation and will be tested before returning to work.

Fargo Police Department said they are following all employee health guidelines. They are not providing additional information about this case at this time.