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Sheriff expects more COVID-19 testing at Yellowstone County jail

Watch Live: Sheriff Mike Linder news conference 6-1-20
Posted at 4:38 PM, Jun 04, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-04 18:38:02-04

Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said Monday he expects more COVID-19 testing at the county jail after a recent outbreak.

"I think it's something that's probably going to have to be done," Linder said at a news conference in Billings.

Linder held the news conference after eight female inmates and one jail staffer tested postitive for COVID-19 last week .

Linder did not say how many more tests he expects to conduct and noted they might be limited by availability. The jail tested 34 inmates and 41 staffers on Friday. All the inmates who have tested positive are in isolation.

Linder was joined by Yellowstone County Health Officer John Felton and County Attorney Scott Twito.

Felton said RiverStone Health will continue to conduct contact tracing to determine where the outbreak started. The first, who was held at the jail for federal law enforcement, tested positive May 24 and was hospitalized.

The jail also had two jailers test positive in March.

Watch the full news conference below.