Six newly elected Georgia sheriffs and a staff member are in quarantine after they were exposed to COVID-19 at a training event . Five of those — including Fulton County’s Pat Labat, Cobb County’s Craig Owens and Gwinnett County’s Keybo Taylor — have tested positive for the disease. Reginald Scandrett, the sheriff-elect of Henry County, has also tested positive. Melody Maddox has not received positive results but is self-quarantining . All attended the three-week training course, which began in mid-November and was held weekdays at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain. The final leg of the training, scheduled for January, has been postponed following the outbreak. “While the vaccine is forthcoming, the pandemic is not over yet and we must all remain diligent to ensure the safety of our communities,” Labat, Owens and Maddox said in their statement
By Chelsea Prince, Zachary Hansen, Amanda C. Coyne, Adrianne Murchison and Kristal Dixon
Six newly elected Georgia sheriffs and a staff member are in quarantine after they were exposed to COVID-19 at a training event for three dozen sheriffs from across the state.
Five of those — including Fulton County’s Pat Labat, Cobb County’s Craig Owens, Gwinnett County’s Keybo Taylor and Henry County’s Reginald Scandrett — have tested positive for the disease, officials confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox has not received positive results but is self-quarantining after known exposure.
The fifth sheriff with COVID-19 is outside of metro Atlanta and is not being identified by the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, according to executive director J. Terry Norris. All attended the three-week training course organized by the association, which began in mid-November and was held weekdays at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain.
The final leg of the training, scheduled for January, has been postponed following the outbreak, Norris told the AJC on Thursday. He did not provide a list of attendees, which included sheriffs who defeated an incumbent or won an open seat.
Scandrett was the first to test positive. He independently got tested during the week of Thanksgiving, when the course was on a break. He said he felt “slightly off” on the Friday before the break began, and he lost his senses of taste and smell before the holiday.
“I hate that my colleagues are going through this,” he said. “I wish they (the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association) shut the school down after the first couple of people tested positive.”
Taylor, Taylor’s staffer and one other person tested positive Monday, and Owens and Labat said they tested positive Wednesday.
“None of those people, once positive, were in a classroom setting,” Norris said. “Going into this, we were as prepared as I think we could have been. We followed the guidelines mandated by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council for group training.”
After Monday’s positive tests, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association board worked with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to set up a pop-up testing site Wednesday morning.
“Out of our concern for the class, we called Gov. (Brian) Kemp’s people over at GEMA, and by Wednesday morning they had a test site identified for us over in Greenville, which was 20 miles from the training site,” he said, adding that Owens and Labat tested positive at that pop-up site.
Owens told the AJC he is in quarantine at home for seven to 10 days with his wife, who also took a COVID-19 test and is awaiting her results. He released a joint statement Wednesday night with Labat and Maddox following the postponement of the training sessions.
“In the future, we respectfully request that the association require individuals to have tested negative for the virus before attending GSA events,” Owens, Labat and Maddox said in the statement.
Labat said Thursday morning he was experiencing mild cold symptoms and a little congestion. He and his wife Jacki are staying in separate rooms while they quarantine at home,
“She’s going to get tested this morning,” he added.
Labat said social distancing and pandemic safety measures were in place when he first arrived for the training sessions, but he later became concerned when some attendees stopped wearing masks on a frequent basis.
“Me and others donned masks 85% of the time,” he said.
According to Norris, masks were not required, since they are not required as part of POST guidelines. Attendees were spread six feet apart, had access to hand sanitizer and took temperature tests twice a day, he said.
A spokeswoman for Taylor said masks appeared to be “pretty optional, and that is one of the major concerns we have.”
“He obviously had his mask on and he was practicing social distancing and following CDC guidelines, but not everyone was in the same mode of practice,” Monisha Brown said.
Taylor is also self-quarantining at home and is doing well, according to Brown.
His swearing-in ceremony was originally scheduled for Dec. 19, but it has been postponed. Brown believes it will likely take place next year but said that will not prevent him from beginning his term Jan. 1.
Taylor’s comments echoed that of his metro Atlanta counterparts, urging Georgians to follow the advice of heath officials.
“While the vaccine is forthcoming, the pandemic is not over yet and we must all remain diligent to ensure the safety of our communities,” Labat, Owens and Maddox said in their statement.
The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association board is working to determine if further precautions will be necessary for the training to finish as planned. The association held one other in-person training event over the summer near Lake Lanier, which involved one attendee testing positive, Norris said.
Scandrett, who has now tested negative for COVID-19 after weeks of symptoms, said he hopes the board decides to delay the training until the pandemic is better under control. If they do decide to hold in-person training early next year, he hopes COVID tests will be mandatory.
“I’m sure there will be some fundamental changes,” he said. “But it airs on the side of wisdom that you may want to delay this.”
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