Coronavirus Cases At Cook County Jail Down To 11, Sheriff Says

CHICAGO — An analysis of the response to the coronavirus outbreak at Cook County Jail suggested aggressive interventions managed to reduce infection rates and prevented deaths in the detention facility, even as new cases of COVID-19 continued to rise around it.

A preprint of the paper, titled "Outbreak of COVID-19 and Interventions in One of the Largest Jails in the United States — Cook County, IL, 2020," was released Tuesday.

The non-peer reviewed study was authored jointly by doctors from the health departments in the jail, Cook County and Chicago, as well as the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It found the roughly 5,000-detainee jail was able to contain the outbreak in the jail as the virus spread through its surroundings in March and April.

"After implementation of interventions, cases declined in detained persons and staff, even as cases increased dramatically in Chicago," the study said.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart held a news conference Wednesday to announce the paper's publication and conclusions.

"What was done here cannot be underestimated," Dart said. "Months ago, when these reckless, reckless people were talking about us being the hot spot — at that time we were the only ones testing anyone."

Dr. Connie Mennella, who runs the jail's health system and was a co-author of the study, said the county was fortunate to get the capability for rapid testing in April. And no other detention center in the country followed the strict double-testing procedure put in place at the jail.

"Every new detainee that comes into the community is tested, not only at intake when they enter, but they are tested again while they are housed in separate housing, and they will not be sent into the general population until they get a second test," Mennella said. "It's paying off. Our positivity rate for the last several weeks is less than one percent. This gives us comfort."

According to the paper, 907 cases were identified among detainees and staff in March and April, with the first staffer testing positive on March 2 and the first detainee infection detected on March 18. About one in four of the asymptomatic detainees tested positive, but there were no cases detected among staffers who never showed symptoms.

The sheriff said 6,000 jail detainees had been tested so far. That compares to just 2 percent of inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections system. Dart also said the state prison agency has refused to accept 450 prisoners who have been ordered into its custody, forcing the jail to operate a separate building to house them as well.

"We aren't in trying to bend the curve, we're in containment now," Dart said. He noted Cook County became the first jail in the country to reinstate visitation for detainees.

And Dart criticized the county's court system, which has left some pretrial detainees jailed for up to 11 years as they await a trial date.

"You cannot have these cases lingering for a decade waiting for trial," he said. "We can't have that happening."

As of Wednesday afternoon, Dart said the jail has only 11 detainees with coronavirus, and eight of them contacted the virus before coming to jail.

According to the paper, seven detainees and two staff members died over the course of March and April.

Earlier:
March: 300 People Released From Cook County Jail as Coronavirus Spreads
April: 210 Detainees, 60 Employees At Cook County Jail Have Coronavirus
May: 2 Correctional Officers, 1 Court Deputy, Succumb To Coronavirus
June: In-Person Visits With Detainees Resume At Cook County Jail

Watch: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Dr. Connie Mennella, chair of correctional health for Cook County Health, announce the findings of the paper, "Outbreak of COVID-19 and Interventions in One of the Largest Jails in the United States — Cook County, IL, 2020"