SC Department of Juvenile Justice employee tests positive for coronavirus
One employee at South Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, department spokesman Jarid Munsch told The State.
The employee is in a direct-care position, meaning he or she typically has contact with children in the department’s care, Munsch said, but that employee has not been to work since first reporting symptoms.
No children have shown symptoms of COVID-19, and Juvenile Justice officials are regularly doing health screenings for all staff and contractors at the front gates of their facilities, Munsch said. Those health checks include taking temperatures and asking if people have had recent contact with possible coronavirus patients.
The Department of Juvenile Justice cares for more than 100 young offenders. It’s one of several state facilities charged with holding inmates or patients that has seen positive cases of the coronavirus.
The S.C. Department of Corrections has seen ten employees test positive for COVID-19. Five of those employees work inside of state-run prisons.
The Department of Mental Health, which is responsible for caring for more than 1,400 patients in facilities across the state, has also had an employee test positive for the virus.
