By Diana Nguyen and Carlos Morales
Pecos County officials recently learned of the severity of a coronavirus outbreak at a Fort Stockton prison.
The entire county had a total of 28 confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the end of May, but the count spiked to 102 this week after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice reported new cases at the Fort Stockton N5 Unit to the Department of State Health Services.
The Fort Stockton Pioneer originally reported the new cases came as a surprise to local officials who only found out about the uptick through the state's tracking website.
Pecos County Judge Joe Shuster told Marfa Public Radio the outbreak likely began with prison employees, explaining that in early May, 18 employees tested positive for COVID-19.
"I contacted TDCJ, and we agreed that we would do a mass testing of the employees to try to get the employees segregated from the unit so we could slow down the possible spread," Shuster said.
Meanwhile, according to Shuster, TDCJ began conducting mass testing on inmates, although it's unclear when prisoners in Fort Stockton were tested.
Marfa Public Radio reached out to TDCJ about the safety protocols put in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus within the Fort Stockton facility, but has yet to receive a response.
Judge Shuster says prison officials have told him inmates testing positive for COVID-19 are segregated from the rest of the population, and that employees "have all of the PPE — the face shields, the gloves — and they suit up when they go in there." He continued, "Providing that they carry on correctly, that it is minimal that they should be able to contact the disease."
Shuster said if prison employees are concerned about potentially spreading the virus to their families, that the county and city could use CARES funds to pay for hotel rooms for those workers.
Outside of the outbreak at the prison in Fort Stockton, Shuster said since the pandemic began, there has been a total of 28 cases of the coronavirus. Among those 28 cases, two are considered active. Those patients will be considered "recovered" in the coming week.