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2 Chief Judge's Office Employees, 3 Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Employees Test Positive For Coronavirus

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two employees of the Cook County court's Chief Judge's office, and three from the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk's office, have tested positive for coronavirus, the Office of the Chief Judge announced Wednesday.

One of the Chief Judge's office employees is an adult probation department employee who worked on the lower level of the Leighton Criminal Court Building, 2650 S. California Ave., while the other worked in the Office of the Chief Judge on the 23rd floor of the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St.

Both last reported for work on Friday, March 13.

Human resources personnel communicated with both employees to determine whom they were in contact with while at work. Both employee said they were asymptomatic while at work, the Chief Judge's office said.

For any confirmed COVID-19 cases involving court employees, human resources personnel will contact anyone who might have been in contact with the infected employee at work and thus potentially exposed.

The areas where the employees work have received routine cleanings and disinfection, and a deep cleaning has been requested.

Meanwhile late Wednesday, the Office of the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk announced separately that three employees have also tested positive for COVID-19.

One is a Criminal Department employee working at the Domestic Violence Courthouse at 555 W. Harrison St., and two are Traffic Division employees working on the lower level of the Daley Center.

None came into contact with each other, and they appear to have contracted the virus somewhere other than work, the Circuit Court Clerk's office said.

Two employees are in self-isolation and have not been hospitalized, and were last at work on Thursday of last week. The third was hospitalized on Friday after also last being at work on Thursday of last week, but was released from the hospital on Wednesday.

The Clerk's office human resources department is also trying to determine who was in contact with the employees while they were at work, and anyone who was in close contact is advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The areas where they worked have also been sanitized, and an additional deep cleaning is being conducted Wednesday.

Separately, Cook County Sheriff's officials said Wednesday that six County Jail inmates and three staff members at Cook County Jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The first two jail detainees who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week were being held in isolation at Cermak Health Services adjacent to the jail, where they have been housed since they first started exhibiting flulike symptoms on Friday.

On Sunday, the sheriff's office announced a Cook County correctional officer who works at Cermak Health Services had tested positive for the virus.

It's unclear if the new cases had been in contact with that original correctional officer who tested positive.

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