A Washington state woman who repeatedly refused a judge’s orders to isolate or take tuberculosis medication was taken into custody Thursday, more than three months after a rare civil arrest warrant was issued, authorities said.
The woman, identified in court documents as VN, was taken into custody and searched in a «negative pressure» room at the Pierce County Jail, a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said.
The room is specially equipped for isolation, testing and treatment, the Tacoma-Pierce County Department of Public Health said in a statement.
Sheriff’s spokesman Darren Moss Jr. said VN will not face criminal charges but has been ordered to jail for at least 45 days.
“Depending on your treatment, you could leave early or stay later,” he said in an email.
Moss did not respond to questions about when the woman was arrested or where she was found.
«It is our hope that he will choose to receive the life-saving treatment he needs to treat his tuberculosis.» hethe health department said in a statement who also thanked the sheriff’s deputies «who supported public health with this necessary intervention.»
VN’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.
Judge Philip Sorenson first ordered VN’s involuntary detention on January 19, 2022, after finding that health officials had made «reasonable efforts» to obtain voluntary compliance with public health rules for tuberculosis. , a communicable disease that is deadly, contagious, and can spread through the air when people who have it cough or sneeze.
By February 2023, Public health officials said they had been to Sorenson 16 times and asked him to enforce his arrest warrant with a contempt order, a move the department called a «last resort.» On February 24, Sorenson signed the order.
According to a statement from a corrections officer filed in court, authorities began monitoring VN in March to execute the order «in a safe manner.»
An officer following VN saw her leave her home and board a city bus and go to a local casino, the official said. The officer did not arrest her and authorities declined to say why.
On May 19, after VN failed to appear at a court hearing, Sorenson found her in contempt again, saying the order was still in effect.
Nearly 100,000 cases of tuberculosis were reported annually in the United States in the early 1950s. By 2021, that number had dropped to 7,882, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pierce County sees approximately 20 active cases of the disease annually, according to the local public health department.