By DOUGLAS GRAVES

Special to The Press

During their Jan. 13 meeting, Lehigh County commissioners extended the state of emergency declaration until April 16.

Commissioners made it clear the COVID-19 related emergency declaration was essentially a legal status allowing County Executive Phillips Armstrong to allocate resources in connection with fighting the pandemic.

In other news, Lehigh County Jail Director of Corrections Janine Donate recounted the history of her actions at the jail and the current state of COVID-related affairs at the jail.

Donate said as of Jan. 13, there were 714 inmates at the jail, however, she pointed out 109 of these are being held at the request of other counties or agencies.

According to Donate, early in March and April 127 to 130 inmates were released bringing the population of inmates down to 500 or a little less than 50 percent of the capacity at the jail and 15 percent of the capacity of the Community Corrections Center to about 15 percent of its capacity.

The Community Corrections Center is on Riverside Drive, Bethlehem. Both the jail and the corrections center are supervised by Donate.

“We instituted a mask policy back in April for inmates and all staff members,” Donate said. “This is a very fluid situation. We are making daily, sometimes, hourly adjustments in our procedures to react to the ever changing world of the virus.

“We are reviewing and providing lists of inmates to the [district attorney] who might be eligible for release.”

According to Donate, there has been a spike in positive COVID-19 cases since Thanksgiving 2019, which she attributed to the spike in the civil population seen over the holidays.

“We certainly saw an up tick in our staff members who were testing positive for COVID-19,” she said.

As visitors are not allowed in the facility, the spike in positive cases can likely be attributed to the staff.

Donate said the rise in positive rates at the jail “was not a sudden rise, it was not a two-week rise.”

“It was a slow and steady rise through the summer months and into the fall,” Donate said. “As we did our contact tracing in our facility, we … identified a trend where those officers who were working on their housing posts, the inmate population became symptomatic or were tested positive (for COVID-19).”

“We received the Abbott rapid antigen test Dec. 4, 2020. If we had not started testing on Dec. 7, 2020, those cases would not have been identified.”

After testing, Donate said, positive inmates were moved to separate housing units within the jail, but it took hours [to move inmates].

“This led to the misconception that we were housing positive-tested inmates with negative-tested inmates,” Donate said. “A positive inmate is never held in the same cell as a negative inmate.”

Donate said now the Abbott test is being given to all new inmates when they are checked in. All those inmates who tested negative are, after 14 days, being tested again and then after 14 more days, tested again.

Donate some confusion also stems from the fact once an inmate has tested positive, if that person medically recovers and then tests negative, he or she can return to the areas where positive inmates are housed.

Donate had previously reported a 54-year-old inmate died of COVID-19 on Dec. 31, 2020, while in a local hospital. This was the first COVID-19 death reported among prisoners in the Lehigh Valley.

“I want to thank my staff. These have been trying times. The last 30 to 45 days have been especially difficult. They have been resilient. The strength they have shown for the past month and a half has been commendable.”

In response to a question from Lehigh County Commissioner Percy Dougherty, Donate reported she has good stock of personal protective supplies.

“We are in pretty good shape,” Donate said.

Commissioner Dave Harrington asked about masks at the jail.

Donate said the Pennsylvania Correctional Industries provide cloth masks that tie behind the head and each inmate is issued two of them.

A resident who called into the Zoom meeting complained inmates were only getting one mask. She also complained inmates were locked up 23 and one-half hours a day. She said inmates have to choose between taking a shower and calling their family.

Harrington asked if Donate knew when vaccines would be available to inmates.

“I don’t have that information yet,” Donate said.