Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart Tests Positive For COVID-19

Dart is recovering at home and has not been to the office since Nov. 19, according to a statement from his office.

Tom Dart
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart speaks about COVID-19 in the jail at a news conference in Chicago July 19, 2020. G-Jun Yam / Associated Press
Tom Dart
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart speaks about COVID-19 in the jail at a news conference in Chicago July 19, 2020. G-Jun Yam / Associated Press

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart Tests Positive For COVID-19

Dart is recovering at home and has not been to the office since Nov. 19, according to a statement from his office.

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Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has tested positive for COVID-19.

A statement from his office says Dart began to feel symptoms on Nov. 20 and “immediately self-quarantined.”

He was tested this past Tuesday and received the results on Friday.

Dart remains symptomatic and is recovering at home, according to the statement, which says he is unsure where he contracted the virus. He has not been at the office since Nov. 19.

Earlier this month, Dart suspended in-person visitations at the Cook County Jail — which falls under the sheriff’s purview — as case numbers spiked across the region and inside the facility.

In the spring, the jail was home to one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the country. Detainees filed a class-action lawsuit that forced the sheriff to take extra measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

On Saturday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 7,873 new cases of COVID-19 across the state in the previous 24 hours. They included 108 deaths.

As of Friday night, 5,775 Illinois residents were in a hospital — slightly fewer than a week earlier.

Chicago’s seven-day positivity rate has also declined slightly in recent days to 12.0% as of Nov. 25, according to a seven-day average calculated by the state’s public health department.

WBEZ’s Tony Arnold covers Illinois politics. Follow him @tonyjarnold.