11 additional inmates test positive for COVID-19 at Santa Barbara County Jail

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Eleven additional inmates at the Santa Barbara County Main Jail have tested positive for COVID-19.

One of the inmates tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, Aug. 13.

Prior to testing positive, the inmate had been housed adjacent to a previously infected cohort in a single cell and was asymptomatic.

In response to the positive case on Thursday, 130 additional inmates in the surrounding modules were tested and today, 10 more positive cases were found, with 120 inmates testing negative.

The COVID-19 positive inmates will be medically monitored while contact tracing and testing continue.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 positive inmates who have been housed at the Main Jail to 36.

More than three-dozen employees with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office have also tested positive.