City Reports Four New COVID-19 Employee Cases

Bloomington, Ind. – Four City workers have reported positive results of COVID-19 tests since the September 15 update, including one Bloomington Police Department (BPD) employee, one City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) employee, one Public Works (DPW) employee, and one Bloomington Transit (BT) employee.

Details of the cases are as follows: 

• One BPD employee started experiencing symptoms on September 19 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. There were no close contacts.

• One CBU employee started experiencing symptoms on September 20 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on September 21. Close contacts have been notified or we are attempting to contact close contacts.

• One DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on September 19 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. Close contacts have been notified or we are attempting to contact close contacts.

• One BT employee started experiencing symptoms on September 17 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on September 20. There were no close contacts.

To date, 446 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 September 12, the most recent date for which data is available, sample concentrations were 100 gene copies/100mL at the Dillman plant and 740 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.