36 BSO employees have tested positive for coronavirus, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony says
Thirty-six employees of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office have tested positive for COVID-19, Sheriff Gregory Tony announced during a news conference Tuesday morning.
Tony said 300 employees are in self-isolation, either awaiting test results or because they might have been in close contact with someone who was infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The number of employees who tested positive for the disease does not include Deputy Shannon Bennett, 39, who died Friday from COVID-19 complications.
Tony said 210 deputies have returned to duty.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office has 5,400 employees, including civilians, deputies, corrections and fire workers. So the infection rate remains relatively low. Tony did not break down the number of infections by agency.
Broward County union representatives said that 15 of those infected work in the three 911 dispatch offices in the south, central and northern ends of the county. That arm of BSO, filled with civilian BSO employees, has about 350 employees and seems to have been hit the hardest.
Miami Herald staff writer Michelle Marchante contributed to this report.
