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Jail limiting intake due to medical outbreak

The Wilbarger County Jail has had limited its intake of prisoners over the past two weeks due to a medical issue.

“Due to HIPAA we can’t discuss the nature of the medical issues,” Sheriff Brian Fritze said, declining to confirm or deny if the medical issues were related to Covid-19. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services reports no active cases of Covid-19 in Wilbarger County, and the last confirmed case in the county was June 7.

Sheriff Fritze said that after consulting with Wilbarger County Chief Medical Officer Dr. Travis Lehman, “We have stopped intake for two weeks for nonviolent offenders. This is the best option to protect the public and those in the jail.”

Vernon ISD reported that at the request of Wilbarger County Judge Greg Tyra, they loaned the district’s disinfecting foggers to the jail to disinfect that facility.

Sheriff Fritze said that he expects the jail to be back up and running as normal later this week.

At this time, Vernon Police Chief Randy Agan said that locally arrested individuals are being transported to either Wichita County or Childress County for holding until the jail can accept non-violent cases.

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