Daytona Beach, FL - New details coming from the state's Juvenile Justice Department shows the number of COVID-19 cases in detention facilities continues to increase.
According to numbers released last Thursday (May 21st), facilities like Daytona Juvenile Residential Facility and the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center had a low number of cases, with only one employee at each institution added to the list of those infected with COVID-19.
That seemed to be the same story with other facilities around Florida, including the juvenile detention centers in Pinellas and Miami-Dade counties. Other places, like the youth academies in Miami and Palm Beach saw different figures.
In Miami, six workers were reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 along with four juveniles. Palm Beach reported that only four employees tested positive.
The largest seen that week came from Okeechobee Youth Development Center, which saw two positive workers and 11 positive inmates. Broward was close behind with 11 positive workers and only one positive inmate.
Now, new data released yesterday (May 26th) from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice shows an influx in cases statewide in their detention facilities.
Out of the two centers in the Volusia area, the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center saw the highest jump after four workers and six juvenile inmates reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. Daytona Juvenile Residential Facility remained stagnant with one positive employee, still.
Other facilities, such as the other regional detention centers in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Pinellas, saw no change while others saw increases across the board.
In fact, Volusia RJDC saw the highest jump out of the 14 centers listed by the state, with a total of nine new reported cases. Behind Volusia came the Okeechobee Youth Development Center, which saw six new cases, two employees and four juveniles.
In total, 43 employees/staff members have tested positive in a state juvenile detention facility, while 31 juveniles have tested positive.
