Officials work to lessen impact of infected inmates

Plans are in place to protect local health care resources

TEXARKANA, Texas — Bowie County Judge Bobby Howell said Saturday that he and other Emergency Operation Center officials are coordinating with Texas Department of Criminal Justice to minimize the impact infected Telford inmates may have on local hospital resources.

“The joint Bowie County/Cass County/Texarkana, Texas, EOC has been proactive in coordinating with TDCJ regarding the COVID19 issue at the Telford Unit,” Howell said. “In fact, we have been in communication with the regional director of TDCJ, Garth Parker, throughout the last few weeks. We’ve also been in contact with our Texarkana hospitals and in Titus County concerning the possible effect of Telford prisoners needing treatment in our facilities.”

Howell said he has been coordinating with Parker regularly and participated in a conference call Thursday with TDCJ officials to discuss the situation at Telford and TDCJ’s plan to deal with it.

“On that call we had their medical director and multiple officials and other physicians from their prison hospital,” Howell said.

Howell said TDCJ’s medical director outlined the steps being taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Texas prisons. Howell said he spoke Friday with TDCJ Chief of Staff Jason Clark, who advised TDCJ was executing plans to avoid or minimize the impact infected Telford inmates might have on local health care resources.

Howell said that as of Saturday, Bowie County has 44 positive cases. The number of infected inmates at Telford is not included in the number of positive tests in Bowie County. Howell said inmates who die of complications from COVID19

while in a Texarkana hospital may be included in the county’s number of deaths.

TDCJ has reported the death of one inmate who was housed at Telford before being transferred to a Texarkana hospital. That inmate, 72, tested positively April 3 and died April 7.

“We are counting two deaths from Telford, but TDCJ is only counting one because they have access to medical records we do not have,” Howell said. “That’s why there’s a discrepancy there.”

Miller County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison reported the number of positive cases Saturday at 22 on her Facebook page.

TDCJ is reporting that 29 inmates at Telford have tested positively as of Saturday. Forty inmates at Telford are in medical isolation and the unit has 11 tests pending.

Medical isolation is “for people who are sick and contagious. Isolation is used to separate ill persons who have a communicable disease from those who are healthy.”

An additional 649 inmates at Telford are on medical restriction, may an currently infected have asymptomatic. had person meaning contact but they with are

important and Howell follow it emphasized is the to social stay home how distancing and of hygiene the Centers recommendations for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I know people are getting tired of this,” Howell said. “But it’s just too premature to try to open things back up. We need to get the message out to people that they need to stay home and try to reduce the spread of this.”