An outbreak of COVID-19 has infected all members of a southwestern Illinois police department, the city’s mayor said.
The three police officers and the police chief of Venice, a city of 2,100 on the outskirts of Saint Louis, have contracted the error, which has forced the department to close while completing the mandatory ten-day quarantine, according to the Mayor Tyrone Echols in the Belleville News-Democrat newspaper.
“I think it’s everyone except possibly two dispatchers,” Echols said of affected department employees, including police chief Theo Adams.
“It sounded pretty harsh,” Echols said of the city’s best police officer.
Venice will be patrolled by Illinois state police and other law enforcement agencies throughout Madison County until its officers return to service.
“I want everyone to know we’re covered,” Echols told the newspaper, adding that the department had at least eight police officers at one point, but “come and go” in search of better salaries, leaving the agency with little staff in the middle of the ongoing pandemic.
Officers and Adams began falling ill late last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“It’s out,” Echols said about the virus to the small community. “It’s a shame there are people who speak out against masks and the vaccine.”
Another nearby police agency, St. Louis County Police. Louis, also deals with a virus outbreak within his ranks. Department officials said Thursday that 15 employees from two precincts had tested positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 2, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Meanwhile, Echols has issued an executive order requiring all city employees to be vaccinated, as well as masks for any City Hall visitor.
“This pandemic has nothing to play with,” Echols told the Belleville News-Democrat.
Echols said Wednesday that diagnosed officers were about a week away from returning to service, KMOV reported.
“We think about eight more days before these guys can get out of quarantine, and of course I’ve been a little slow about getting information because my boss even has COVID-19 and it sounds terrible,” Echols told the station .
None of the officers was seriously ill, KTVI reported.