KTLA

More Riverside County inmates, deputies testing positive as coronavirus spreads through jails

Deputy David Werksman is seen in an undated photo provided by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

The coronavirus continues to move through the ranks of law enforcement in Southern California as officers and jail inmates struggle to maintain social distancing.

Nowhere is that more profoundly apparent than in Riverside County, where at least 80 inmates and 55 employees — most of whom are deputies — have tested positive for COVID-19. Two veteran deputies in the department have lost their lives to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

In 10 days, the number of deputies infected has more than doubled, while the number of inmates who have tested positive has multiplied by more than six, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said.

Bianco thinks the large numbers are the result of “silent spreaders,” those who are infected with the virus who show no outward symptoms and then unwittingly spread the illness to others.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.