A staff member at Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility who worked in an area where Covid-19 prisoners are held has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Michael Smith, Vermont Agency of Human Services secretary, revealed the latest positive test at the Rutland jail during one of Gov. Phil Scott’s twice-weekly press conferences early Tuesday afternoon.
The staff member’s positive test result at Marble Valley comes on the heels of six inmates returning from a Mississippi prison to the Rutland facility testing positive for the coronavirus nearly two weeks ago and another inmate there testing positive last week.
Those Covid-19 positive inmates at the facility have been isolated from the other prisoners, and mass testing of prisoners and staff at the Rutland jail took place last week.
Rachel Feldman, a Vermont Department of Corrections spokesperson, said later Tuesday afternoon that the Covid-19 positive staff member was last at the facility Aug. 4, and was tested separately from the mass testing that took place late last week at the facility.
Those mass testing results at the Rutland jail showed 84 inmates and 76 staff members all tested negative for the coronavirus, according to Feldman.
— Alan J. Keays
