City Reports Nine New COVID-19 Employee Cases

Bloomington, Ind. – Nine City workers have reported positive results of COVID-19 tests since the August 25 update, including one City Hall (City Hall) employee, three City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) employees, one Parks and Recreation (Parks) employee, two Public Works (DPW) employees, one Bloomington Police Department (BPD) employee, and one Bloomington Fire Department (BFD) employee.

Details of the cases are as follows: 

• One City Hall employee started experiencing symptoms on August 30 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on August 31. There were no close contacts.

• One CBU employee started experiencing symptoms on August 26 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on August 27. There were no close contacts.

• A second CBU employee started experiencing symptoms on August 29 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on August 30. There were no close contacts.

• A third CBU employee started experiencing symptoms on August 31 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on September 1. There were no close contacts.

• A Parks employee started experiencing symptoms on August 27 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. There were no close contacts.

• One DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on August 26 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on August 27. There were no close contacts.

• A second DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on August 27 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. There were no close contacts.

• A BPD employee started experiencing symptoms on August 30 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on August 31. There were no close contacts.

• A BFD employee started experiencing symptoms on August 27 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. There were no close contacts.

To date, 427 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.  

City of Bloomington Utilities continues its weekly COVID-19 wastewater sampling program. While it is presently in the early stages of development, wastewater sampling has been proposed as a future “early warning” methodology. As of August 22, the most recent date for which data is available, sample concentrations were 4000 gene copies/100mL at the Dillman plant and 5100 gene copies/100mL at the Blucher Poole plant. Sampling data is available at https://bton.in/rcAnW.

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.