Positive Cases: Youth

Overview of Positive Youth Cases (through 9-16-22)

Total number of TJJD youth who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic: 769
Number of positive youth cases at secure facilities: 729
Number of positive youth cases at halfway houses: 40

Positive Youth Cases by Facility:

Evins Regional Juvenile Center: 65
Gainesville State School: 88
Giddings State School: 177
McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility: 305
Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex: 97
Halfway Houses: 40

Timeline of positive youth cases is:

Positive Cases: Staff

Overview of Positive Staff Cases (through 9-16-22)

Total number of TJJD staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic: 1,286
Number of positive staff cases at secure facilities: 1,173
Number of positive staff cases at halfway houses: 113

Positive Staff Cases by Facility:

Evins Regional Juvenile Center: 252
Gainesville State School: 147
Giddings State School: 235
McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility: 287
Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex: 252
Halfway Houses: 113

The timeline of positive staff cases is:

Protective Measures

• Screening. Everyone who enters our facilities receives a health screening and has their temperature taken at the gatehouse. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher or who otherwise does not pass the screening is immediately sent home. All facilities also have rapid COVID-19 tests that can be used to determine if an employee or guest is positive for the virus. Additionally, all youth committed to our care receive a health screening by the local probation department prior to movement and again upon arrival at TJJD. All newly admitted youth wear a mask until a complete medical history and assessment can occur.
• Hand washing. TJJD has installed portable handwashing stations outside our gatehouse for staff and throughout the secure facilities for both youth and staff. Staff and youth are reminded to wash their hands frequently during the day. Hey 
• Masks. All staff at TJJD secure facilities and halfway houses may wear protective masks if they choose. a 
• Volunteers and visitors. In-person family visitation at our facilities was reinstated on March 13, 2021 and volunteers were welcomed back on campuses in spring 2022. Family members and approved guests are screened at the gatehouse before being allowed to enter the campus.  
• Medical quarantine and COVID-19 testing. Each TJJD facility has set aside space for medical quarantine. Any youth who shows symptoms that could potentially be the result of a COVID-19 infection is moved to quarantine and administered a test. Youth are released from quarantine following a negative test and a medically observed resolution of symptoms based on CDC guidelines. In addition, youth are tested:

  1. At intake to a TJJD facility
  2. If they had interactions with any staff member who tests positive for COVID-19
  3. If the TJJD medical team determines that a potential COVID-19 infection of a staff member warrants the testing of particular youth

• Cleaning. Our facilities are cleaning routinely with a focus on high-touch surfaces. Guidance includes safety standards on use of multiple cleaning products.
• Education. Youth in quarantine due to COVID illness receive support and tutoring through educational materials provided by teachers.  
• Recreation. We understand that engagement and interaction are essential to our youth and that when youths’ daily activities are interrupted, it can cause frustration and anxiety. Staff are charged with providing as many structured activities, physical activities, and opportunities to be outdoors or visit other recreation spaces as possible when dorms experience a quarantine related to illness.
• Telework. Most non-direct-care staff are telework eligible and TJJD facilitated broad use of telework by updating the virtual private network (VPN) and distributing laptops to enable work from home. 
• Parole supervision. Parole visit schedules employed increased use of video and phone contacts during the initial months of the pandemic to minimize disease spread, but returned to more in-person contact as the risks of the pandemic eased.
• Community service and work for youth. Halfway houses have returned to allowing youth to engage in community service work and parolees also have returned to full schedules fulfilling work and/or community service requirements. This follows an initial period early in the pandemic when these requirements had to be modified or suspended.  

Response & Communications Systems

• County COVID updates. TJJD has sent notifications to the county probation departments related to how they must inform TJJD if any staff or youth in their facilities tests positive for COVID-19. This will better assist TJJD in coordinating system-wide responses. TJJD places a hold for intake on any detention facility, contract care facility, or county jail with cases of COVID-19.
• Ongoing support to field. Probation departments continue to receive guidance related to compliance with standards, training, and information related to COVID-19 response from federal and state agencies.
• COVID Report Management Center. TJJD has established a management center for any reports of COVID or concerns related. The OIG Incident Reporting Center serves as the single point of intake for such reports. The COVID Report Management Center then receives those reports and takes actions to advise the staff member about appropriate actions to take, escalates concerns, and flags for any needed follow up. Each TJJD staff member is required to report to the IRC any potentially COVID-related symptoms they experience, tests delivered, and results received. Additionally, we have staff available to answer any internal questions or concerns about COVID-19.
• Staffing response methods. Should TJJD encounter COVID-19 confirmed youth within a facility, our staffing responses will be deployed based on a four-tier approach ranging from our current Readiness Phase to one or more confined cases, a larger number of cases, or widespread cases. Each phase would trigger an elevated staffing response including deployment of our Quarantine Response Teams, which are specially trained direct-care staff members who will provide direct supervision for youth with confirmed cases of COVID-19.