Pregnant woman becomes first Lake County Jail inmate to test positive for COVID-19

A pregnant woman became the first detainee at the Lake County Jail to test positive for the coronavirus, officials announced Tuesday.

The woman, who is in her 30s, was booked into the jail about 10:30 a.m. April 16, but taken to Vista East Medical Center hours later because she was pregnant and “appeared lethargic,” the Lake County sheriff’s office said. She was diagnosed with a “non-COVID-19 medical issue” and taken back to the jail that evening.

The next day, however, the woman was tested for COVID-19 because she was going through withdrawal, with symptoms that resembled COVID-19, the sheriff’s office said. Her test results came back positive Tuesday morning.

The woman is housed in the medical unit, away from the jail’s general population, the sheriff’s office said. So far, no other inmates or correction staff have tested positive.

The woman is being held on $250,000 bond for charges including obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear on warrants of felony retail theft and felony theft, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus at the jail have been “overall successful,” including segregating inmates with symptoms and providing them masks, using electronic bond hearings, providing PPE to all staff and keeping new inmates out of the general population for two weeks.