CHARLESTON — A part-time employee at the Huttonsville Correctional Center has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting additional precautions at that facility.
The individual, who is quarantined at home in good condition, has been serving as a temporary correctional officer and last worked a shift of less than four hours May 14. He reported experiencing a headache that evening, and was tested for COVID-19 the following day. The test result came back positive over the weekend.
All indications are that the employee had minimal contact with inmates or fellow staff. He had supervised three inmates on the facility’s recreation yard, from a distance and while wearing a mask his entire shift. Those inmates and their unit, a dorm with 44 beds, have been quarantined as a precaution.
Huttonsville and the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation continue to coordinate with the W.Va. Bureau for Public Health and the Randolph County Health Department regarding quarantine and testing protocols.
The Huttonsville employee is the second among DCR’s 3,260 personnel to test positive. The first, a correctional officer at the South Central Regional Jail, had been self-quarantining since April 15 when he tested positive on April 23. That officer has since recovered, been medically cleared after testing negative, and returned to duty.
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