On April 16, 2020, a female in her 30s, who had been arrested by North Chicago Police Department on a failure to appear arrest warrant for felony retail theft and felony theft, was transported to the Lake County Jail.  In addition to the warrants, she was charged by North Chicago Police with obstruction of justice and possession of drug paraphernalia.

At approximately 10:30AM she arrived at the jail after being transported by North Chicago PD.  Upon arriving, the female attended an electronic bond hearing and was remanded to the jail with a bond amount of $250,000.00. 

At approximately 1:30PM, the female was transported to Vista East Medical Center as she is pregnant and appeared lethargic.  There, she was diagnosed with a non-COVID-19 medical issue and released back into the custody of the Lake County Jail at approximately 6:35PM.  She was placed in the medical unit of the jail upon her return.  

The following day, on April 17, 2020, the female was tested by the jail medical provider for COVID-19, as she was going through withdrawals, and her withdrawal-type symptoms presented similar to COVID-19 symptoms.  This morning, April 21, 2020, the jail was informed the female’s COVID-19 test was positive.  

The female remains housed in the medical unit and not in general population.  No other inmates or correctional staff have tested positive.  The jail continues to work closely with the Lake County Health Department.

A number of protocols have been enacted since February to reduce the likelihood of COVID-19 entering the jail as well as enhanced mitigation procedures should inmates feel ill.  Thus far, these mitigation procedures have been overall successful.  These include:

•    Enhanced medical screening for inmates and employees entering the jail

•    Increased cleanings of jail pods

•    Minimization of inmates moving from pod to pod

•    Establishing a medical segregation area for inmates with mild illness symptoms

o    Any inmate experiencing illness wears a mask while quarantined 

•    Worked with Courts & criminal justice partners to establish electronic bond hearings, versus in-person hearings

o    Inmates who receive a recognizance bond at their initial hearing never enter the jail’s general population area

•    Utilizing PPEs for all jail staff

•    Utilized vacant housing pods to spread the distance between inmates

•    All newly remanded inmates are housed out of general population for