Covid Outbreak Shuts Down Illinois Town’s Entire Police Department

Every officer with the Venice Police Department in Illinois has tested positive for Covid-19, forcing them to temporarily shut down.

According to CBS-affiliate KMOV St. Louis, the department currently has six full-time officers. The force was previously slightly larger, but some officers left for higher-paying jobs, Mayor Tyrone Echols said.

“We think about another eight days before these guys can come off quarantine and of course I’ve been a little slow getting information because my chief even has COVID-19 and he’s sounding terrible,” Echols said.

Echols told the Belleville-News Democrat Thursday that only the two dispatchers remain as the officers fulfill their 10-day quarantines. Illinois State Police and other law enforcement agencies in Madison County will patrol the 2,100-person town in the meantime.

Echols has mandated Covid vaccines for all city employees, and encouraged others to receive the shot as well.

“I’ve gotten my two shots, and I do expect to get a booster. This thing is alive, and I suggest to everybody to get the shots,” Echols told NBC-affiliate KSDK.

As for the prognosis of the officers, Echols told KDSK that “it doesn’t look like it’s gonna take them out, [but] still, it’s obviously bad news.”

Watch above, via CBS-affiliate KMOV St. Louis.