Elmhurst Firefighter Has Coronavirus: City

ELMHURST, IL — One of Elmhurst's firefighters has tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, the city announced Wednesday. The firefighter was notified of the diagnosis Tuesday and immediately informed the fire chief and city manager, according to a news release.

The employee's last day at work was April 2. The employee had been off for personal time, not because of illness, a city spokeswoman told Elmhurst Patch.

All employees who may have had potential exposure to the diagnosed employee have been notified and offered testing, although none of them are experiencing any symptoms, the release said.

The diagnosed employee is taking every precaution as directed by health care providers and will remain under quarantine for 14 days, the city said. Because of the employee's last work day, the probability is low that any employees or members of the public are at an increased risk for contracting COVID-19, the city said.

The fire department has taken immediate action to clean and disinfect any areas of the fire station that the employee may have come in contact with, including vehicles, equipment and work stations.

“We continue to be challenged by this pandemic and regretfully inform the community of this incident,” City Manager Jim Grabowski said in a statement. “We continue to take the necessary precautions and assure you that Fire Department operations will not be impacted. City departments have been preparing for this scenario and we are ready to provide the community with the same responsive and superior customer service that our residents expect.”

Last month, the city announced a civilian police employee had tested positive for the coronavirus. At last week's City Council meeting, Grabowski said the employee was doing "very well" and was due back to work in the next few days with a doctor's approval. Five other employees who were in contact with the worker in question were tested for the coronavirus, but there were no reports of them testing positive. In an email to Patch, Grabowski said the city has seen test results within one to 10 days.

As of Tuesday, Elmhurst had 65 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, according to the DuPage County Health Department.

Read more:

Illinois Coronavirus Update April 15: 23,247 Cases; 868 Deaths

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