This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Orange County Theo Lacy Jail.
So around December 2020 they came and did a mandatory COVID-19 swab on everyone, you had to take it, it wasn’t optional! And the next two days me and my celly all of sudden got sick and they told us the results of our test that me and my celly and everyone else in my mod, that we were positive for COVID-19.
I got really scared, within two days of taking that test, I got really sick, and I lost my smelling and tasting sense. I got so paranoid! I tried everything to taste and smell, I put a lot of toothpaste in my nose and mouth, nothing!!! Me and my celly had to calm each other down ’cause we were both freaking out, being in this two-man cell, we felt claustrophobic and depressed.
Right before they tested us were put on emergency COVID-19 lockdown, we were on lockdown for a month and a half, so we only came out for half an hour a day. So to shower and try to call your loved ones, it’s not enough time. The stress we went through was unexplainable, I totally felt alone and lost and confused… not once since then till now has a nurse or doctor come by and asked if we were okay or if we had any questions.
And it’s weird ’cause since the pandemic started and to that day before I was made to be tested, I managed to be safe by social distancing and constantly washing my hands and wearing my mask. So it leads me to think that they gave it to me on purpose when they tested me. It’s been such a headache that I’m physically and emotionally drained! Court has been a mess and we’ve been getting our cases pushed to the side ’cause of all that’s going on!
I know I’m putting my family through a lot of stress, my kids cry, my mom ants me home already. They asked me if I wanted the vaccine a week ago and I said yes, now I hear that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being stopped because of blood clots, and that’s the one I got. So now I’m nervous.
What’s crazy is, I have seen people who’ve tested positive for COVID get moved from their cell to a quarantine mod. Then, they put two new inmates in the old cell where the guy that was positive at without cleaning that cell, so now the risk of the two inmates getting COVID is high.