CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is pleading with the public to do all the things scientists have been advising for months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus — otherwise, the jail could become a hot spot again.
The Cook County Jail detainee population is rising towards pre-pandemic levels as COVID positivity rates spike outside the jail, he said Thursday.
"The majority of the people who are positive at any given moment inside the jail are people who came into the jail positive. There isn't this wild spread going on in the jail. No, quite the contrary," Dart said.
Dart said he was able to get the jail population down to around 4,000 earlier this year, but the population is moving back toward 5,500.
"We're still sitting on about 300 people that aren't supposed to be here. They're supposed to be in the (state) prison system, but the prison system is woefully slow in accepting people that are their inmates, not ours," he said.
A slowdown in the local court system has also has been a factor, he said.
"The court system is operating at a third of its capacity. A year ago, now, they would average 350 cases being disposed of a week. We're at about 100 right now," the sheriff said.
The public can help by wearing masks, keeping things sanitary and keeping their social distance, Dart said.
Dr. Connie Mennella, the medical director at the jail, agreed.
"We are part of the community. We may have barbed wires. We may have brick walls but they are porous. What happens in the community greatly impacts the jail and, more so, because we are vulnerable given the jail setting," Mennella said.
According to the department's website, there were 83 detainees in the jail with COVID-19 as of Wednesday. None is hospitalized. Earlier this year, as the pandemic first struck, hundreds of detainees contracted the virus.
The sheriff said COVID is not spreading through visitations to detainees. Visitors continue to meet with detainees outside and are kept 15 to 20 feet apart, he said.
