COVID-19 has reached Hays County Jail and, if unchecked, could jeopardize the county’s attempts to control jail overcrowding by outsourcing inmates to other facilities.

Jail Administrator Capt. Julie Villalpando “is holding a very hot potato,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said during the commissioners court’s Tuesday meeting.

Villalpando said as of Monday, 36 inmates and nine corrections officers have tested positive for the coronavirus, though none have required hospit...