The Weld County sheriff and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado are asking a federal judge for a consent decree implementing measures at the county’s jail to protect medically vulnerable inmates from COVID-19, according to a statement released Tuesday.

The request comes after the ACLU and the county resolved a class-action lawsuit that accused Sheriff Steven Reams of failing to take adequate measures to protect people in the jail from the virus.

Under the proposed decree, medically vulnerable people would be monitored on a regular basis and assigned to a single cell, when possible, to increase their ability to socially distance themselves from other inmates.

Masks would be distributed to everyone at the jail and would be required to be used, according to the proposal, and measures would be put in place to promote social distancing.

Inmates would also receive COVID-19 testing consistent with CDC guidelines.

To reduce the jail’s population, the jail would not book people charged with misdemeanors, municipal offenses and petty offenses through the end of the pandemic “with only limited exceptions,” the proposal stated.

The sheriff will regularly advise police chiefs in Weld County to limit arrests and instead issue court summonses and allow defendants release on personal recognizance bonds.

The proposed consent decree also calls for continued sharing of data on the jail’s population and infections among staff and inmates.

“Our state, like much of the country, is in crisis with COVID-19,” Dan Williams of Hutchinson Black and Cook LLC, an attorney working with the ACLU, said in a statement. “We can no longer ignore the role that jails play in this pandemic. This proposed consent decree will save lives.”

The proposal comes as COVID-19 infections surge across the state, including in county jails and prisons.

As of Tuesday, there were 18 active outbreaks in Department of Corrections facilities and more than 1,500 incarcerated people were reportedly infected with the virus, according to the latest data from the department. Seven people have died from the virus while incarcerated at a state prison, data shows.