A Dayton nonprofit and an inmate of the Montgomery County jail have filed a lawsuit against the local health department seeking action against the jail's growing COVID-19 outbreak.
The case was filed by in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, and targets the Dayton & Montgomery County Board of Health and鈥痟ealth commissioner Jeff Cooper.
In the filing, attorneys from make the case that Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County has a legal duty to study the prevalence of COVID-19 and control its spread in the jail.
According to , the health department asked the jail to test everyone at the facility. But the jail instead followed recommendations from its medical provider, a company called , and has not conducted mass testing.
The case claims that the health department has 鈥渋nexcusably failed to comply with its clear statutory duty despite knowing that cases of COVID-19 are spreading at the Jail.鈥�
A spokesperson from Public Health said the department could not comment on pending litigation.
To date, the jail has had 37 inmates and eight staff members test positive for COVID-19, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff鈥檚 office. The jail currently has nine inmates in custody who tested positive for COVID-19. One staff member is currently in self-quarantine after testing positive.
A spokesperson from the sheriff鈥檚 office said that to date 31 inmates have tested negative for COVID-19, and that 鈥渋t is important to note that our facility has a large transient population with high turnover among those entering and exiting daily.鈥�
