The Cumberland County Jail is now diverting all new arrests from the facility as it grapples with a growing coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier this month, inmates and staff at the Portland jail began to show COVID-19 symptoms. Further testing revealed 27 people in the jail were infected with the virus, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
After a further round of universal testing late last week, another 24 inmates and two staffers tested positive for the virus, the sheriff’s office said.
In response, the jail is now diverting all new arrests made in Cumberland County to the York County Jail in Alfred and Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset as its staff tries to reduce virus transmission within the facility.