Second Bexar County inmate tests positive for COVID-19

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – A second inmate has tested positive for COVID-19.  Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said Saturday evening that the inmate is a capital murder suspect.

He was medically evaluated after developing a fever over 100 degrees and placed in a negative pressure cell on Friday pending results of the test.

This prisoner was not housed with the inmate that originally tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, and it is believed these two cases are not related. The sheriff’s office is trying to determine how this inmate contracted COVID-19.

Early reports indicate that this inmate, who has been at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center since March 17,  did not display any COVID-19 related symptoms recently and was housed in a unit where there is minimal face-to-face contact.  Sheriff’s administrators believe the inmates housed in this unit and the two deputies who worked there are at low-risk of contracting COVID-19.

Recently, the deputies assigned to work this two-man unit have been wearing their assigned Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and were working separately from each other to maintain healthy distancing practices.

Two inmates at the Bexar County Jail, 14 deputies, one video visitation civilian employee, and one dispatcher have tested positive for COVID-19. Additionally, a Bexar County Facilities Maintenance employee assigned to the Bexar County Jail tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.