71 Fayette Co. inmates test positive for coronavirus; courthouse reopening for business

More than half of the inmates at the Fayette County Prison tested positive for covid-19 as county officials prepare to reopen its courthouse Thursday after a two-week closure.

The county has seen big jumps in the number of confirmed cases in recent days, and 32 county employees have tested positive for the virus, according to Commissioner Scott Dun and state Department of Health figures. County officials are working with WVU Medicine on their reopening plan, Dunn said.

“We want to remain open to the public instead of panicking,” he said. “You can take a scientific, a medical approach to it.”

County court and government officials on July 29 instituted a two-week closure of general operations at the Uniontown courthouse and surrounding facilities. Most county employees worked from home while court operations were limited and buildings were cleaned. Some employees will continue working remotely while others will return to their offices, Dunn said.

“We are still in the process of working out a few of the details with our staff,” he said.

Temperature screenings of visitors and employees will continue and masks are required for entry. There could be limits on the number of people permitted in an office at one time. The county has 635 government employees.

This week, county officials learned 71 jail inmates tested positive for the virus. Most were asymptomatic and none were hospitalized. The jail and courthouse are connected by a walkway. Dunn said inmates who tested positive are separated in the jail from the rest of the population.

A second round of testing will be conducted on inmates who initially had negative results.

“We are taking a very active role, meeting daily, sometimes multiple times a day, making sure that what we are doing keeps our staff and our inmates and our employees as safe as possible,” Dunn said.

Of the 32 county employees who tested positive, 16 have since returned to work. Four more people are awaiting test results, he said.

“We are being as vigilant as possible,” he said. “We reached out to WVU to make sure we weren’t overlooking anything.”

Criminal court trials will resume in September with jurors coming into the courthouse, said Lori Lambie, deputy court administrator. Judges have been using teleconference and video conferencing to conduct hearings as much as possible and that will continue, she said.

“We’re just operating differently than we used to,” she said

There was a spike in the county’s positive case count at the end of July after seven days of single digit increases. Between July 28 and Aug. 1, 89 new cases were added, according to state figures. Daily counts then returned to single-digit increases until Aug. 6, when 34 new cases were reported. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 80 combined new cases were added.

There were no statewide delays in reporting, large offloading of data or long-term facility changes that would contribute to a big increase in cases, said Maggi Mumma, a state health department spokeswoman.

State health officials are watching the numbers, which are a concern, she said Tuesday.

Fayette County has 582 total positive cases of the virus since the onset of the pandemic in March. Six people have died. More than 10,000 tests have been negative.

Court activity was limited during the temporary closure, with lawyers permitted in the courthouse to file documents. Criminal trials will resume in September.

County officials in mid-May reopened the courthouse and courts after an initial shutdown following Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order two months earlier.