City Reports Four New COVID-19 Employee Cases

Bloomington, Ind. – Four City workers have reported positive results of COVID-19 tests since the November 17 update, including three Public Works (DPW) employees and one Bloomington Transit (BT) employee.

Details of the case are as follows: 

• One DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on November 18 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on November 19. Close contacts have or are being contacted.

• A second DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on November 19 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on the same day. Close contacts have or are being contacted.

• A third DPW employee started experiencing symptoms on November 13 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on November 14. There were no close contacts.

• One BT employee started experiencing symptoms on November 20 and received a positive COVID-19 test result on November 22. There were no close contacts.

To date, 474 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 November 14, the most recent date for which data is available, sample concentrations were 1300 gene copies/100mL at the Dillman plant and 370 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.

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