The Porter County Clerk’s Office is closed through Monday after a staff member at the courthouse in downtown Valparaiso tested positive for COVID-19, Clerk Jessica Bailey said Thursday.
The employee was tested on Tuesday and got their results Thursday, which is when the office shut down, Bailey said, adding the staff member worked exclusively at the courthouse and did not have contact with the staff of the Elections and Voter Registration Office during the recent election.
The county’s facilities maintenance department will clean and sanitize the office over the weekend and starting Monday, the six people who work in the Portage office will be split between there and Valparaiso, Bailey said.
In the meantime, Bailey said child support payments can be made at the Juvenile Services Center, 1660 S. Indiana 2, Valparaiso; online or by phone.
Courthouse business in the building, including trials, has been effectively shut down since Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer announced on Oct. 28 that she and two people on her staff had tested positive for the virus.
Other judges in the building shut their courtrooms out of an abundance of caution or to get tested themselves, though court officials, including the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office, have been working from home.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
