COVID-19 outbreak at Pahrump jail grows to 41 inmates
COVID-19 has infected at least 40 percent of inmates at the Nye County Detention Center in Pahrump, and individuals in custody on immigration holds continue to be the hardest hit, county and federal data shows.
As of Wednesday, 41 inmates had tested positive for the respiratory illness, up from 30 cases less than two weeks ago when the outbreak was discovered. Nye County Sheriff’s Office Capt. David Boruchowitz previously said the jail has maintained an average daily population of about 100 inmates during the pandemic.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees account for at least 32 — or 78 percent — of the confirmed cases, according to the federal agency’s most recent available data. The latest numbers are an increase from 23 cases among ICE detainees reported on July 10.
When the outbreak inside the jail was first reported around July 7, Boruchowitz said that the saturated infection rate among ICE detainees was likely a result of the manner in which the Sheriff’s Office was conducting testing. It was unclear Wednesday whether Boruchowitz, who oversees jail operations for the Sheriff’s Office, still believed that to be the case.
At the time, Boruchowitz said 56 inmates had been tested on July 1 in the jail’s lower-security cellblock, which houses nearly all of the 64 ICE detainees currently held at the jail.
Testing was ongoing, he said at the time, though it was unknown Wednesday whether testing has since been completed. Boruchowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ICE previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it was following guidance from medical professionals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when deciding whether to release individuals in ICE custody. It wasn’t clear Wednesday how many detainees, if any, had been released from the Pahrump facility amid the worsening outbreak. The federal agency also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As of Wednesday, there were 241 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pahrump.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
