Santa Rita jail in Alameda County plans to implement COVID-19 testing for staff this week in response to the region’s recent surge in cases. On-site testing was previously not available to staff.
The implementation of regular, weekly testing for staff follows a large coronavirus surge in the jail at the end of last year, where cases jumped from five to more than 100 in one week.
The jail currently reports seven cases among inmates and two among staff, but advocates for incarcerated people say low testing rates may be masking more cases.
“We feel that soon the sheriff is going to claim, as they have before, that they've controlled this outbreak when all they've really done is just stop seeing it," said Lina Garcia Schmidt, a member of the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
The jail has had 424 positive tests come back since the beginning of the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said it had controlled the outbreak and that the current testing plan is "strategic" and sufficient.