306 Cook County Jail Inmates Have Tested Positive, 5 Stateville Prison Inmates Have Died Of COVID-19
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A total of 306 inmates at the Cook County Jail have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.
The latest figure is as of 5 p.m. Sunday.
As of that time, there were 20 inmates who were being monitored and treated at local hospitals, and 32 who have been moved to a recovery facility. A total of 48 inmates have tested negative.
Two inmates have died of apparent complications from COVID-19.
Leslie Pieroni, 51, was pronounced dead Thursday evening at St. Anthony's Hospital, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.
He had been hospitalized since Friday of last week after testing positive for COVID-19, the Sheriff's office said.
The first inmate to die, Jeffrey Pendleton, 59, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital of Cook County at 9:49 p.m. Sunday, April 5.
A third inmate, Nicholas Lee, 42, was pronounced dead Sunday morning at Stroger Hospital of Cook County after also testing positive for coronavirus.
Lee had been hospitalized since Monday, April 6, after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office. His official cause of death is pending autopsy, but preliminary reports say he died of cardiac arrest.
A total of 218 Sheriff's office staff have also tested positive, including 181 correctional officers.
Meanwhile, a total of five inmates at Stateville Correctional Center have now died of COVID-19, officials said Monday.
The Illinois Department of Corrections said a man in his 50s died Sunday, March 29; man in his 60s died Friday, April 3; another man in his 60s died Sunday, April 5; another man still in his 60s died Tuesday, April 7; and a man in his 70s died Thursday, April 9.
All the inmates died at outside hospitals except the one who died at April 5. He died in the prison facility.
