After a four day period in which new Coronavirus cases in Lee County slowed significantly, 22 new cases were confirmed Wednesday, bringing the total number to 228. It was the single biggest day spike to date since the county started tracking cases.

Additionally, Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter reported that a detention officer in the Lee County Jail had tested positive. According to Carter’s statement, the employee is at home recuperating and the Sheriff’s Office is working with the Health Department to complete contact tracing and evaluate who may have been in close contact with the employee. The jail employee apparently began exhibiting symptoms while at home and alerted their supervisor as soon as they began feeling unwell.

According to the release, “the Sheriff’s Office believes there is low risk of exposure to other employees and inmates at the jail as the officer had not been to work since they began exhibiting symptoms.”

“We continue to follow safety protocols among our staff and the population of the jail to protect the health and well-being of those that work and are housed within our facilities,” Carter said. “Our employee followed proper procedure in reporting their illness and minimizing the risk to our employees and inmates by staying home.  We also have protocols in place, including temperature checks when entering our facilities, to help mitigate potential spread of the virus. We will continue working with the Health Department to determine if additional precautionary measures are needed and will monitor inmates and staff that may have had close contact with the employee before symptoms appeared.”

Identifying information about the remaining patients other than age range and gender was not disclosed, and the recovered number remained at 44 on Wednesday.  Lee County has reported one COVID-related death. Another positive test in a Lee County employee was announced Tuesday.

Demographic data is reported on a 24 hour delay, so the new cases announced Wednesday are unknown at this time. But of the 206 cases confirmed through Tuesday, 59 percent are female and 41 are male. 37 are under the age of 24, there were 86 between 25 and 44, 73 between 45 and 64, and 10 who were 65 or older.