(WXYZ) — The alert went out late Tuesday morning that an outbreak of COVID-19 was happening inside Children’s Village in Oakland County. Nine positive cases were recorded.
The Village is the juvenile detention center where child criminal offenders are held. There are also children housed there who are wards of the court and temporarily placed there by a judge.
The county issued the following statement on the situation:
Oakland County Children’s Village and Health Division are working closely together to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at Children’s Village after an employee tested positive for the illness on Sept. 3. Since that date, four additional staff members and four residents have also tested positive for coronavirus. All were close contacts of each other and were connected to one building. The positive cases are in isolation.
Health Division conducted a contact investigation that required 17 additional Children’s Village employees to self-isolate at home for 14 days. Meanwhile, Health Division has tested all Children’s Village employees and residents for COVID-19 and will continue to do so until all results are negative.
Health Division has not been able to determine the source of the original exposure.
There are currently 73 residents at Children’s Village and 188 fulltime employees.
In the driveway going into the secure facility, a COVID-19 checkpoint is set up. People entering have to get their temperature checked and answer health questions before being cleared to go in.
Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe tells 7 Action News the jail is not a facility that can be used as a backup without authorization from a judge. McCabe says they have no positive cases of COVID-19 among 650 inmates or staff.