An employee at Los Angeles County Probation’s Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar has tested positive for COVID-19. The last day the employee worked at the facility was Sunday, April 5 and has self-quarantined at home since then.

Following Public Health protocol, the twenty-two youth who reside in the unit where the employee worked have been separated from the rest of the facility’s population. Currently, all youth at the facility are symptom-free and the parents and guardians of the affected youth have been notified of the exposure.

Probation is working with its health care partners to mitigate any additional cases and will be sanitizing the entire housing unit to reduce any chance of additional exposure to youth and staff. Medical staff on site are closely monitoring the health of youth potentially exposed and any other individuals present in the housing unit in question.

This is the second staff member at Barry J. Nidorf to test positive for COVID-19. On April 1, 2020, the Probation Department announced that an employee at the facility tested positive and youth in the unit where the employee worked were isolated from the rest of the juvenile hall population. Those youth are still in separate living quarters and are not displaying any COVID-19 symptoms.

Probation is doing its best to provide the personal protective equipment necessary to keep all staff and youth healthy. Juvenile Court Health Services are closely monitoring the health of the youths that may have been exposed to the staff members testing positive performing health checks twice a day.

The Probation Department will continue to follow the guidance from Public Health and Juvenile Court Health Services to keep all individuals at its facilities safe. All employees are encouraged to follow all health and hygiene practices and to monitor their health on an ongoing basis. If they do not feel well or are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, staff are asked to stay home.

In response to the rapidly developing changes surrounding COVID-19, L.A. County Probation has increased the daily cleaning and sanitation at each facility. The youth have also been educated about the virus, are practicing social distancing and are washing their hands frequently. If warranted, additional details will be provided as Probation works with the Departments of Health Services and Public Health to assess the situation and investigate further.