CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The number of residents at Mecklenburg County Detention Center-Central (MCDCC) with active cases of COVID-19 continues to rise since the current outbreak began with two residents housed on the 6th-floor testing positive the week before Thanksgiving.
There are currently 65 residents in custody with COVID-19 and an additional 255 residents housed in either Respiratory Isolation or Respiratory Quarantine because of potential exposures.
According to the sheriff's office, residents in respiratory isolation and respiratory quarantine are kept separate and apart from all others to mitigate potential spread among approximately 1,430 total residents in custody.
Residents in respiratory isolation and respiratory quarantine are not moved within the facility other than for safety or security concerns and, at the direction of local state and federal judges, not moved outside the facility for court appearances.
Residents in respiratory isolation will often be tested for COVID-19 and will remain in respiratory isolation until either (a) they test negative, (b) a completed contact tracing rules out exposure, or (c) they are otherwise deemed by medical providers no longer to be contagious.
The vast majority of the residents in respiratory isolation and respiratory quarantine are asymptomatic, while a few in respiratory isolation with the virus are displaying minor symptoms.
Only two of the 65 residents with COVID-19 are requiring infirmary care at this time, and none are near requiring hospitalization, though our Medical Director remains in close contact with both the local health department as well as providers at Atrium Health – CMC Main Hospital should circumstances change and the need to transfer a resident for acute care arise.
"While we are, not surprisingly, seeing a surge in positive residents as the pandemic continues to spread in the community outside MCDCC, MCSO – our staff and our contract medical providers – remain confident in our collective abilities to manage the pandemic even should the current number of active-positive residents in custody continue to climb," the sheriff's office said in a news release.