DETROIT – Detroit Police Chief James Craig has tested positive for coronavirus, Mayor Mike Duggan announced on Friday.
Duggan said Craig tested positive for the virus and will not be attending meetings until he fully recovers, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
“He is very fit. He is very much in charge of running this department,” Duggan said.
According to the mayor, Craig has mild symptoms. However, the department is feeling the pinch as 468 officers have been quarantined and at least 39 have tested positive for COVID-19.
Earlier this week, the police agency lost Capt. Jonathan Parnell as well as a dispatcher to the disease.
Several times in recent weeks, Craig has talked about the city’s response to coronavirus and how it is working to keep officers safe.
Duggan said as Wayne State began testing first responders, they’ve been running “huge numbers” of officers through. When an officer tests positive, they send home anyone they’ve been around — which is why almost 400 are quarantined at this time, Fox 2 reported.
“If you have had primary contact with someone who tests positive, we send you home for 14 days. We’re not taking any chances,” Duggan said on Thursday.
The department instituted a policy starting Thursday that officers arriving for duty must have their temperature taken — anyone over 100 degrees will be sent home. The mayor said no officers have been turned away for a fever so far.
Dr. Robert Dunne announced a five-step plan for the Detroit Police Department:
- Workplace monitoring – checking temperatures every day, every shift to make sure an officer doesn’t have a fever
- Reviewing every exposure – looking at how the exposure happened, learning lessons so the department can mitigate it, making sure anyone with symptoms can be tested
- Strict social distancing
- Deploying additional protective equipment – the supply of masks and gloves for the officers
- Return to work – many officers out on quarantine anxious to get back to work, ensure they get back to work safety
“The chief is very fit focused on nutrition and exercise and we’re hopeful that that’ll assist in carrying him through this problem,” said Assistant Chief James White, who will be running the department in Craig’s absence.
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