JAIL OUTBREAK SUBSTANTIATES ACLU VIRUS SUIT

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU, the Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance and Singleton Schreiber McKenzie & Scott against San Diego County over its jails and how they have dealt with the pandemic was terribly timely. It came a day after the Sheriff ’s Department revealed that at least 46 inmates at the George Bailey Detention Facility, the county’s largest jail, had tested positive for the coronavirus. That’s in addition to the 1,200 cases seen since last March.

A news release issued Thursday afternoon by the department said the new outbreak was caused by a single person who refused to be tested for the virus, as is his right. He went through a standard oneweek quarantine last month at the Central Jail, then was transferred to Bailey after showing no symptoms. After he became ill, tests revealed the 46 infections. Sheriff ’s officials said they are following public health guidelines to the letter and had taken proactive steps like releasing more than 5,300 inmates early to allow for social distancing in jails.

But the ACLU and its allies say the department hasn’t done nearly enough to protect the health of those in its jails. It wants a state court to either require the vaccination of far more inmates or mandate even more reductions in the inmate population so that sufficient social distancing is possible “at all times.” Fewer than 1 percent of county jail inmates have been vaccinated, while 40 percent of state prisoners have gotten their shots. And at least eight counties in the state have prioritized jail vaccinations to avoid the problems now seen at Bailey. It’s not too late for Sheriff Bill Gore and county supervisors to learn from what is being done elsewhere.