42 Inmates in Lubbock County Detention Center Infected

On Wednesday, July 15th, the Lubbock County Detention Center reported that 42 inmates had active cases of COVID-19.

LCDC also reported that 12 inmates had test results still pending and 168 were described as quarantined. 2 detention officers had active cases and 5 others were quarantined.

Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyers Association have criticized Sheriff Kelly Rowe's handling of COVID-19 in the county jail, saying his "unwillingness to require his employees to properly wear masks, along with his unwillingness to test every individual at the jail, will cause the number of COVID-19 cases in LCDC to rise."

The association acknowledges that social distancing in LCDC is impossible, but it is possible to distance those infected from those who are not.

They go on to say it's well known that asymptomatic people unknowingly infect others, and while testing all 1,300 inmates would be inconvenient, it would be "far less burdensome than allowing the virus to continue to spread unknowingly and ending up needed hospital beds (at the county's expense) for a mass number of these incarcerated individuals.