An inmate in the Lake County jail tested positive for the novel coronavirus Friday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
The announcement marks the first time someone has tested positive for the virus at the root of a global pandemic while in the jail’s custody.
A former inmate had tested positive last week, two days after being released as part of a plea deal. The jail confirmed that case in a news release Friday.
The latest case involves a woman arrested by the North Chicago Police Department for failing to appear in court on felony retail theft and felony theft charges, according to a news release. She also faces new charges of obstruction of justice and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The woman arrived at the jail at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday where she participated in an electronic bond hearing, one of several changes implemented in an effort to keep COVID-19 out of the jail, according to the release. Her bond was set at $250,000.
Like all inmates who remain in custody after bond is set, the woman did not enter the general population but rather a quarantine area where she would have stayed for 14 days, another of the precautions the jail has been taking, said Sgt. Christopher Covelli, the spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, who is in her 30s and pregnant, was taken at about 1:30 p.m. that day to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan because she appeared lethargic, according to the release. She was diagnosed there with a medical issue unrelated to the novel coronavirus, and returned about 6:35 p.m. to the custody of the jail.
She was placed in the medical unit of the jail upon her return, according to the release.
The next day, the woman was tested 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 test came back positive for the novel coronavirus Tuesday morning.
The woman remained in the medical unit Tuesday where she was being held in an isolation cell, not in the general population, Covelli said.
No other inmates or correctional staff have tested positive, according to the news release. The jail had not tested any other inmates as of Friday, saying none had met the the threshold for testing.
When asked whether anyone has been tested as a result of this confirmed case, Covelli said the jail’s medical provider continues to work with the Lake County Health Department and is following guidelines laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“The Health Department’s communicable disease tracing protocol team is working closely with our jail’s medical provider,” Covelli said in an email. “Should it be determined someone needs testing, they will be tested. That said, it’s important to note, there is still an overall shortage in the state/region when it comes to testing capacity.”
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.
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.
Antonio Ellis, a former inmate who tested positive after being released last week, has said the efforts clearly aren’t enough since he contracted the virus while in custody. Ellis, who was in custody Feb. 27 to April 13, had experienced headaches, dizziness and a temperature as high as 101.3 degrees.