NORWICH – The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office recently announced that their jail is once again COVID-19 free thanks to a multistep action plan and dedicated staff.

According to Chenango County Sheriff Ernest Cutting, the sheriff’s office had approximately 15 positive coronavirus cases following several exposures in one of the jail pods. Cutting said the office was COVID free for 10-and-a-half months prior to the outbreak, and hopefully they will continue on that trend again.

“We had a mini-outbreak after one of the pods started having positive coronavirus test results,” said Cutting. “Three out of the four people in that pod tested positive, and it began to spread.”

“Staff members started to test positive as well, and we put a plan into action to separate anyone who had been exposed.”

Cutting said anyone on staff who displayed symptoms was sent home to quarantine, and everyone else who was in jail and infected was separated into a different pod.