Allegheny County Jail administration defends covid-19 testing policy

Allegheny County Jail officials defended their handling of the covid-19 pandemic during Thursday’s oversight board meeting.

Chief Deputy Warden Laura Williams told the board that there have been 2,163 inmates tested at the jail since March 2020. Of those, 287 have tested positive.

According to Williams, 42 inmates are currently positive, and there are 162 tests pending.

The number of positive cases jumped significantly in late February, and advocates for incarcerated people criticized the jail for not implementing universal testing.

They cited recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in December, which suggested testing asymptomatic people in correctional facilities.

However, Williams said on Thursday that the CDC “recommendations also indicate that the considerations for broad testing need to be practical.”

“These recommendations have changed, and we’ve continued to adapt our procedures in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations from subject matter experts.”

Williams told the board that the jail has tested entire housing units on 24 occasions.

While there has been broad testing in the facility, Williams said, there has not been universal mass testing at any one time.

“It is not recommended, mandated, supported to test the entire facility unless there would be evidence to suggest disease presence exists,” Williams said.

As of Thursday, she told the board, there were five housing units in isolation and four in quarantine.

“The Allegheny County Jail has been abiding by the recommendations and standards set forth. The health care staff has been diligent to asses and identify individuals who fit within the testing criteria,” Williams said. “And we test. Within the community there have been spikes, and our facility has been no exception to those peaks and numbers.

“We’ve not hidden from this. We’ve not stopped testing. We’ve not stopped monitoring. We will remain diligent. We will remain persistent.”

Later in the meeting, Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, who sits on the board, made a motion to conduct universal testing at the jail.

“We meet the guidelines for universal testing,” she said.”It only makes sense to extend to the full jail to get a snapshot in time as to where we are.”

However, Warden Orlando Harper told the board that doing so would prove difficult.

“I need the board to understand what this is going to entail if you vote and approve this,” he said. “This entire jail will be locked down. Nobody can come out. Nobody can go in.”

But Hallam responded, “It’s not as much of an inconvenience to the folks in the jail as it sounds,” she said. “A lot of excuses are being thrown around for why not to do it. People are already being locked down and not getting showers for five days.”

The administration has had a year to get the virus under control, Hallam said, but has not been able to do so. Universal testing, she said, would allow them to find the problem and isolate it.

Her motion was defeated. However, Judge Beth A. Lazzara, who also sits on the board, suggested having medical professionals speak to the board before its next meeting to find out if they think universal testing would be valuable.

“I’m worried about the spike in cases, as well,” Lazzara said.

Earlier in the meeting, Hallam asked Williams if there has been contact tracing at the jail and if they’ve been able to determine the source of infection — whether from corrections officers or those incarcerated.

“I’m not going to discuss that at this current time,” Williams said.

When Hallam asked why, the deputy warden answered, “You asked me information related to employee health and personnel issues.”

Finally Williams relented and said, “There have been multiple sources identified through contact tracing.”

Williams told the board that there is not yet a plan in place for vaccinating inmates, saying that the state’s plans continue to evolve in how vaccine is doled out, causing the jail planning to evolve, as well.

She did tell the board that about 25% of staff at the jail have refused to get vaccinated.

So far, Williams said, 326 employees have received their first dose, while 213 have received both shots of the vaccine.