The number of New Orleans jail inmates with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus more than doubled as the results of mass tests conducted there last week began to arrive.

Fifty-six inmates have now tested positive for the coronavirus as test results filtered in over the weekend, according to a Monday report from the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, a significant jump from the 24 inmates who had tested positive as of Friday.

The test results mean that the Sheriff’s Office now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any federal or state prison in Louisiana. But jail officials said the spike is also a reflection of their decision to test every inmate, whether or not they display symptoms.

The New Orleans lock-up appears to be an outlier among correctional institutions in Louisiana, which have largely concentrated testing on inmates with symptoms.

Many of the 339 inmates in New Orleans who have been tested so far either don’t display symptoms at all or wouldn’t be eligible under the most stringent test guidelines. But jail Director Darnley Hodge said he decided to test all inmates to guide his decisions on where to place inmates and guards.

He hopes to place inmates who have tested negative under the watch of deputies who have also tested negative, for example.

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“I don’t like dealing with unknowns. I know that a commonly held belief — and it’s true — is that places like correctional facilities are incubators for diseases like this,” Hodge said. “I wanted to know what I’m dealing with.”

An advocate for inmates at the New Orleans jail said she was pleased with the wide-scale tests, but the results underscored her concerns about the spread of the virus.

“We remain very worried for the health and safety of our clients held in the jail,” said Elizabeth Cumming, an attorney at the MacArthur Justice Center.

Cumming said the test results prove that criminal justice agencies need to continue cutting the number of people housed at the lock-up. The jail’s population is down 24% from the day before the first coronavirus case was detected in Louisiana.

A fraction of the inmates who have tested positive have been released from the lock-up. The lion’s share remain in custody and have been placed in isolation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Medical staffers are monitoring the inmates on a regular basis, providing them with hydration and giving them medications like Tylenol as needed, Hodge said.

Many of the inmates testing positive who have been placed in isolation were previously housed in open-bay, dormitory-style tiers on the jail’s fourth floor, Hodge said.

The jail could be in line for another increase in positive cases this week. Of the 339 inmates tested thus far, 173 have tested negative. But the Sheriff's Office says it is still awaiting the results on tests of another 103 inmates.

Working floor by floor, the jail plans to eventually test all 804 inmates.

Meanwhile, 47 Sheriff's Office employees were positive out of the 81 tested, and 11 health contractors were positive of the 23 tested.

Like other facilities, the Sheriff's Office struggled to secure adequate testing supplies during the first weeks of the coronavirus crisis in Louisiana. Only 46 inmates had been tested before April 13.

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But the Sheriff’s Office struck an unusual collaboration with Tulane University scientists to test a vast swath of its inmates. One of them, Tulane University microbiologist Robert Garry, said other institutions should follow suit.

Garry said large-scale testing, even of people without significant symptoms, will pave the way for the U.S. to reopen businesses and public spaces.

“Particularly in these types of situations, where people can’t go out at all and they’re forced into close quarters and a lot of interpersonal contact, testing, testing, testing is exactly what needs to be done,” Garry said. “They’re doing just the right thing.”

The Jefferson Parish Correctional Center had 20 inmates with confirmed cases as of Friday, but it's tested far fewer people. The medical director for its health contractor, CorrectHealth Jefferson, said it currently has no plans to test asymptomatic inmates.