Three more inmates at the Lake County jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The jail tested nine inmates April 25, about a week after learning a Des Plaines man who had been housed with them tested positive, according to a news release. Of the nine inmates, three had positive results, five negative and one is pending.
The former inmate, Antonio Ellis, said he wasn’t surprised to discover others in the jail had the virus.
“The only thing I’m surprised about is they did the test,” Ellis said Thursday, shortly after the Sheriff’s Office released the results of the testing. “It’s good they’re trying to be transparent about it.”
Ellis went public with his experience on Facebook and with the Lake County News-Sun because he said he was concerned about the men with whom he had been housed.
He said since then, he’s experienced a backlash from those who don’t believe him so he was also relieved to learn the Sheriff’s Office released additional details Thursday that back up his account, including naming the area where he had been housed.
At the time of Ellis’ release, the Lake County jail had not tested a single inmate because the jail’s medical provider determined none met the threshold for testing, according to Sgt. Christopher Covelli, the spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office has not identified Ellis by name, released details about a former inmate that match those of Ellis. It said in a news release that the man received medical care while in custody, including for a “low-grade fever,” Covelli said.
Ellis said at one point, his fever reached 101.3 degrees. He also said he experienced a headache, dizziness and other symptoms.
As a result of the mild symptoms being experienced by Ellis and another inmate, the Sheriff’s Office stopped moving inmates in and out of the pod where the inmate had been housed prior to Ellis’ release, Covelli said.
One man was released on bail April 17, the day after Ellis’s test results came back positive, according to the release. He had not been displaying signs or symptoms of illness when discharged.
The remaining nine inmates who had been housed with Ellis were subsequently tested on April 25, according to the release. Those results came back late in the day Wednesday.
The testing became an option despite the inmates not meeting the original testing criteria because more tests are now available and testing protocols have changed over time, Covelli said. The jail’s medical supplier was able to obtain additional tests and the Lake County Health Department was also able to supply some kits.
“A common misconception is that there is an abundance of COVID-19 test kits, which is simply not true,” Covelli said. “While there’s been an increase in kits available, they have been very limited over the last two months, and testing has been prioritized based on one’s symptoms.”
The five who tested negative for COVID-19 were moved to an area where new inmates are quarantined for 14 days prior to joining the general population, one of the measures the jail implemented in an effort to keep out the novel coronavirus.
The other four – three of whom had positive coronavirus test results and one of whom whose results are still pending – remain in their current housing situation, according to the release. All four “are in good overall conditions and are not displaying symptoms of illness.”
They will continue to be closely monitored by medical staff, according to the release.
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“It’s important to note, all of our inmates receive medical care while in custody at the jail.,” Covelli said. “Any inmate who is sick or displays symptoms of illness, receives increased medical care, and if their illness is beyond the jail’s medical capacity, they are transported to an area hospital – this applies whether COVID-19 related or not.”
The Sheriff’s Office announced last week that another inmate – a woman in her 30s who is pregnant – tested positive shortly after arriving at the Lake County jail. She never entered the jail’s general population as she had been in the 14-day quarantine area before being taken to Vista Medical Center East.
The woman was diagnosed there with a medical issue unrelated to the novel coronavirus, and returned to the custody of the jail where she was placed in the medical unit, according to a release. She was tested the next day by the jail’s medical provider for COVID-19 because she was going through withdrawals and her withdrawal-type symptoms presented similar to COVID-19 symptoms.
The jail has touted its efforts aimed at keeping the novel coronavirus out of the jail, and mitigating its spread should it enter, as “overall successful” in a news release last week.
The first changes were implemented in February and have since grown to include enhanced medical screening for inmates and employees entering the jail, increased cleanings of jail pods, minimized movement of inmates within the jail and the separation of inmates who have been sick in a separate pod, where they all wear masks.
Sheriff John Idleburg “takes his responsibility very seriously for the welfare and safety of not only his staff, but those housed in our jail as well,” Covelli said.