WARREN, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Health has announced 37 new cases of COVID-19 in Warren County.

Those new cases bring the county’s total to 369 cases — 325 confirmed and 44 probable.

Thirty-seven new cases in one day ties the county’s single-largest daily increase. Thursday’s data marks the fifth day since Nov. 19 when more than 20 additional cases were reported in Warren County.

State-wide, over 10,000 new cases were reported on Thursday, bringing the total since March to 358,625 who have contracted COVID-19.

While public health experts continue to emphasize that people avoid large groups and gatherings, some such congregate settings can’t be entirely avoided.

The Warren County Jail is one such setting. So far, there haven’t been any outbreaks there.

“We have been extremely fortunate at this point,” Warden Jon Collins said. “We haven’t had any positive cases with inmates.”

Collins said effective Nov. 23, the jail “went back to lockdown status due to the spike in COVID cases.”

That means that all groups, visitation and work programs have been suspended and inmates participate in court and evaluations via video.

“We sanitize the facility daily using hospital grade cleaning supplies,” Collins said, noting the county purchased a fogger for sanitizing both the jail and vehicles.

There are also protocols in place for when someone is first incarcerated.

“Prior to taking custody of a new commitment,” Collins said, “they are asked a series of medical questions related to potential exposure, their temperature is taken and must be cleared before we accept.”

Anyone not cleared through those tests is taken to Warren General Hospital for clearance and then placed in a quarantine cell for one week prior to clearance to enter the general population.

As a result, the jail population has been lower during the pandemic.

“It’s been extremely helpful,” Collins said of that decrease. “We have one male quarantine unit and one family quarantine unit. By doing this we have cut the housing capacity for those housing units in half to allow inmates to be in a quarantine cell by themselves.”