CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A woman who works at a public school on Chicago's Northwest Side is believed to have coronavirus, bringing the total number of known Illinois cases to six, officials announced Friday.
The Chicago woman, in her 50s, works as a special-education classroom assistant at Vaughn Occupational High School, which has about 200 students. The patient returned late last month from the Grand Princess cruise ship, returned to work and began experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. She currently is stable at an undisclosed hospital, Chicago Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said.
The announcement came during a media briefing that also included Mayor Lightfoot, Gov. Pritzker and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson.
"I want to assure our CPS students and families that our city is working relentlessly to protect the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff," Lightfoot said.
Vaughn High School will be closed next week as a precuation, officials said, and anyone who is at-risk of becoming infected will be contacted and monitored over the next several days, the potential incubation period of coronavirus.
Lightfoot said the Chicago patient -- who tested "presumptively positive" for the virus — was last in the school building March 2.
The Grand Princess, the ship she had been on, is currently off the coast of San Francisco, with more than 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Earlier Friday, the state's fifth coronavirus patient was released from Rush University Medical Center, to home quarantine.
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