City Reports Two New COVID-19 Cases

Bloomington, Ind.–Two City workers from the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Parks and Recreation Department (Parks) have reported positive results of COVID-19 laboratory tests since the March 10 update. 

Any close contacts have been notified, but no members of the general public were identified as close contacts as a result of exposure to these employees in the course of their work.  

“Close contact” is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as someone who was within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before illness onset--or, for asymptomatic clients, two days prior to positive specimen collection--until the time the patient is isolated. 

Details of the case are as follows: 

A DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on March 17 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on March 21. There were no close contacts.

A Parks employee was asymptomatic and received a positive COVID-19 test result on March 21. There were no close contacts.

Including today’s report, 297 positive COVID-19 viral test results have been reported since the start of the pandemic by City workers, including those employed by the municipal corporations that operate the water utility (CBU), transit system (Bloomington Transit), and public housing (Bloomington Housing Authority). Additionally, COVID-19 was listed among the causes of death of one City worker.  

Data about COVID-19 cases among City employees, in the county, the state, and the nation are available at https://bton.in/SOHjE. Other City-related updates about the COVID-19 pandemic are available at bloomington.in.gov/covid19.  

The City of Bloomington is committed to sharing information about how its operations and workforce are affected by this public health emergency and will continue to provide weekly updates about confirmed cases among staff while protecting employees’ privacy.