By Jozsef Papp
The Augusta Chronicle, Ga.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree was worried. With the number of calls for service and the number of employees at his agency, he was concerned about how the COVID-19 pandemic was going to impact things.
“I really thought our agency was going to be hit really bad. I was preparing; I had contingency plans in place for us to be hurt a lot worse than we were,” Roundtree said.
Two deputies — Sgt. Charles Norton and Cpl. Gregory Campbell — have died due to COVID, and multiple others have tested positive and spent time at hospitals because of the virus. Before Monday, no new COVID cases had been reported in 90 days at the sheriff’s office.
But an outbreak at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center has resulted in 16 inmates, both male and females, testing positive for COVID-19. According to a release issued Monday by the sheriff’s office, it is unknown what variant the inmates tested positive for but samples have been collected and sent for testing.
Roundtree, in an interview Friday, said he was surprised about the lack of cases within his agency recently and the amount of cases overall through the pandemic.
“With an agency our size, I thought it was going to be more exposure. I absolutely was preparing for it, I thought it was going to be a lot worse,” Roundtree said. “Losing two deputies, that is hard, but I really thought at the beginning when it hit, it was going to be a lot worse for us because we are so large, and we are answering so many calls.”
COVID-19 remains the leading cause of death among law enforcement for the second year in a row. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks every line of duty death across the country, there have been 316 deaths due to COVID-19, as of Dec. 9. In addition to the two deputies in Richmond County, North Augusta Public Safety Officer Dustin Beasley and Aiken Department of Public Safety Officer Kevin Simmons died in August due to COVID.
As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads across the country, Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said his agency is working to make sure deputies receive the booster shot. Although new COVID-19 cases in the Augusta-area remain relatively low, the CDC warns the Omicron variant could be spreading rapidly over the holiday season.
“Our agency is well over 80% vaccinated and that was two months ago, so it should be much higher now. Right now, we are going to start concentrating on getting the boosters for the variant,” Roundtree said.
Roundtree said he is encouraged to see the majority of the agency has been fully vaccinated, and expects the same number to receive the booster soon. He feels deputies are more willing to get vaccinated now to protect themselves, their families and the public when answering calls. Although he is pushing for the booster shots, Roundtree said he doesn’t plan to make vaccinations mandatory.
(c)2021 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.)