Lexington police officer tests positive for COVID-19. He has worked at protests
A Lexington police officer has tested positive for COVID-19, the department said Thursday. It’s the first confirmed case among the department’s roughly 780 employees, police said.
The officer works an investigative assignment and usually doesn’t have regular contact with the public. But he has been working during downtown protests, police said. He last worked a protest on June 10.
“The officer took the test after a family member began experiencing symptoms and tested positive,” Spokeswoman Brenna Angel said in a statement. “The officer is currently asymptomatic and has been self-isolating at home for several days.”
The city has encouraged all of its employees, officers included, to check their temperatures and ensure that they are not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms before they come into work every day, Angel said. Any employee who wants to get tested is encouraged to do so, she said.
Protests haven’t contributed to Lexington’s increase in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, according to Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.