WALLA WALLA — A COVID-19 outbreak at the Walla Walla County Jail has afflicted a total of 33 people — staff members and inmates, health officials announced Thursday, Nov. 5.

Walla Walla County officials reported one person was infected with the virus on Oct. 22, posing a risk to others.

Walla Walla County Department of Community Health subsequently administered 93 COVID-19 tests to staff and inmates. Of those, 33 yielded positive results and the remaining were negative, Norrie Gregoire, director of corrections, said.

“The first case led to testing direct contacts of that first case,” he said. “We have undertaken about five sets of testing, and received some positive results after each set. On Monday approximately 30 tests were conducted.”

The department will continue testing as needed.

“We do have a timeline based on the dates of the original tests and some of the retests we’ve done,” Gregoire said. “I believe we are doing some additional retests early next week.”

A tracing investigation is underway to identify cases and contacts, according to a news release. Jail officials are working with Community Health case investigators to follow the federal guidelines for quarantine and isolation of inmates at the jail.

Jail and health officials also are working to ensure inmates released from the jail can quarantine or isolate if necessary under Centers for Disease Control guidelines, the release stated.

“Each case depends on the individual, and Community Health would be involved in assisting an individual if there are housing needs,” Gregoire said.

Officials will not release information on the inmates or staff who tested positive due to privacy concerns, he said.