SANDWICH – Despite a couple of somewhat close calls, Sandwich police officials confirmed that there have been no COVID-19 cases coming out of the city’s police department since the mid-March closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sandwich Police Chief Jim Bianchi said Thursday, Aug. 27, that there have been no positive COVID-19 cases within the city’s police department so far. He said he attributes that to the department taking a proactive approach in making sure police officers have personal protective equipment, or PPE, available and wash their hands as much as possible.
Bianchi said Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird and DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott also have been reaching out to the city’s police department to make sure they have everything they need from an equipment standpoint, as well.
“So we’ve been very aggressive to make sure that our people are taken care of,” Bianchi said.
Bianchi said there had been a couple of incidents, one of which including an officer going into an ambulance with a person infected with COVID-19 to make sure the person was breathing. However, he said, the officer was in the ambulance for less than 30 seconds.
Bianchi said the officer wasn’t infected after all, but the police department made sure to check with him and his family about their testing status for the illness. He said he wanted to make sure that officer’s family was taken care of in that regard.
“If our families aren’t taken care of, we can’t do our jobs,” Bianchi said.
Bianchi said police officials continue to work with the Sandwich Fire Protection District and dispatching centers to remain up to date with information about known infected areas whenever police respond to calls. He said officers will wear PPE, especially if they are called to a known infected area.
Bianchi said that Sandwich police officers typically don’t wear masks during traffic stops, since he is more concerned about immediate safety concerns in that setting. However, he said, officers will wear face coverings during a traffic stop if requested and it’s determined there’s no immediate danger to the officer.
Bianchi said officers clean their cars every day and they make sure their equipment is taken care of.
“That’s on them and they’re pretty good at doing that,” Bianchi said. “I haven’t had any problems.”
Baird also previously confirmed a contractual worker in the Kendall County Jail tested positive for COVID-19. He said during an Aug. 18 Kendall County Board meeting that has been the only case within the sheriff's office so far and all staff that had interactions with the worker were tested and those tests came back negative.
Two La Salle County Jail corrections officers also tested positive for the novel coronavirus in early April, according to a copy of an internal memorandum sent by County Board Chairman Jim Olson, D-Seneca, that was provided to Shaw Media. Those positive cases had prompted county officials to step up infection controls.
• This story will be updated as more information becomes available.