The Cook County sheriff’s office announced Sunday that a total of 234 detainees at Cook County Jail have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Fourteen detainees diagnosed with the disease have been hospitalized, the sheriff’s office said. Additionally, a total of 78 employees have also tested positive.
The first two cases of COVID-19 at the facility were announced March 23. The jail has released hundreds of detainees, as Cook County judges conduct case-by-case bond reviews in an attempt to lower the jail’s population and reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker also issued an executive order halting the transfer of new prisoners to the Illinois Department of Corrections amid the coronavirus outbreak. Illinois state prisons had already suspended visits to prevent the spread of the virus among guards and inmates.
