Two new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at the Butler County Prison, according to the warden.

The new cases bring the total number of jail employees who contracted the virus since the outbreak in March up to five, according to Warden Joe DeMore. None of those cases were inmates.

Last week, DeMore said a third case had been confirmed since March that occurred in the past two weeks, prompting testing mandates for anyone who had “direct continuous contact with that employee.”

Those tests revealed the two new cases, DeMore said. With no more tests pending, he said he feels optimistic there won't be any more cases.

Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, those employees were removed from work for 14 days. He said all of the remaining tests came back negative, and for safety reasons inmates continue to be under modified operations, known as a lockdown, until further notice.

To date, no inmates have tested positive for the virus, DeMore said.

He said they were following CDC guidelines to decide when the jail would return to normal operations. Under the current lockdown, each inmate is given an hour per day outside of their cell.

DeMore said they have decided not to test any inmates because none of them have shown symptoms.

After the outbreak in March, inmates' visitors were barred due to safety concerns and video calls were made available as a substitute. But last week, loved ones of inmates reported that the jail had stopped allowing video calls.

DeMore said the video calls are suspended pending certain security protocols being changed to help reduce the possible spread of the virus among inmates.

DeMore said that if no new cases are discovered, inmates will be eventually taken off lockdown.