BARREN COUNTY, Ky — Sixty three residents of the Barren County Detention Center have tested positive for COVID-19.

What You Need To Know

  • COVID-19 outbreak hits Barren Co. Detention Center

  • 63 inmates out of 216 have tested positive

  • Center is separating the positive residents from the negative residents

  • More testing will take place Wednesday

 Concern began to take hold last Tuesday when two contractors and one deputy jailer reported testing positive. The following day, all jail personnel got tested, resulting in a total of six contractors and four jailers coming down with the virus. Reporting ten cases, the detention center began working with emergency services, the local health department, and the Barren County Judge Executive’s Office. 

Working together to formulate the best course of action, it was decided that all residents were to get tested. Late Friday afternoon, 215, of the 216 residents got tested. While only six residents were showing symptoms, 63 people tested positive. J

ailer Aaron Bennett, said while the result is not something they’d hoped for, it was something they were prepared for. “We’re doing every measure that we can, you know. Were we expecting 63 positives? No, but we’re happy that we know we have 63 positives so we can address all of them. We didn't want to miss any of the residents that you know, say if we just tested the 5 or 6 that were showing symptoms at that time, we would’ve missed the other 50 or 60 of them,” said Bennett. 

Out of the 63 positive cases, less than 10 percent have shown any signs or symptoms. No residents affected by the virus have any underlying conditions or have been hospitalized since news of the outbreak. 

Bennett says the symptoms seen so far mirror the flu and common cold, and they are making sure to keep tend to everyone’s needs as often as possible. 

“A lot of them don’t even have symptoms but the ones that do, we’re making sure they’re hydrated, giving them their Tylenol, just trying to take care of all their medical needs,” said Bennett. 

Residents have been separated in efforts to stop or slow down the spread. Those who have tested positive are housed together. The jail plans to hold another round of testing this Wednesday to eliminate any further spread. 

“We’re separating all the residents, the positive with the positives and the negatives with the negatives. So our thing was, we knew COVID was here, we had to locate it, so we locate it by testing everybody, so now that we got it located, we got it separated from the negative to the positive,” said Bennett. 

The Barren County Detention Center said they will continue to monitor the problem over the next few weeks, and hope to implement testing more often in the coming months.