A Little Rock police officer has tested positive for covid-19, according to a post Friday on the department's Twitter account.
The officer self-quarantined more than a week ago in an effort to limit possible exposure to other officers and the public, the post said.
Little Rock police and city of Little Rock representatives would not address Friday whether the officer was in a position that required significant contact with the public or whether the officer had made any arrests over the past few weeks.
Pulaski County sheriff's office spokesman Mitch McCoy said the sheriff's office has been working and speaking with Little Rock police regarding covid-19. He said they sheriff's office will continue to test the temperature of any officers who take arrestees to the Pulaski County jail.
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"We'll respond appropriately in whatever way we can," McCoy said. "If the officer did make any arrests, that officer did not come into our facility because we are taking temperatures of every law enforcement officer that comes through our doors. If that officer did make an arrest, that officer did not have a fever."
News of the Little Rock police officer testing positive for covid-19 came two days after Little Rock Fire Department officials confirmed three of that department's employees had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Chief Delphone Hubbard said the Fire Department was notified of the third positive test Wednesday morning. The individual is an instructor at the department's training headquarters at 7000 Murray St. and was the second training instructor at the facility to test positive for the illness.
Neither instructor had any contact with known covid-19 patients when responding to calls in the community, the chief said.
Another firefighter tested positive last week.
As of Wednesday evening, 31 Fire Department employees were under self-quarantine. That included three other instructors and the 25 recruits, Hubbard said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the incubation period for covid-19 can last anywhere from two 14 days. The World Health Organization has said there is a chance of catching covid-19 from someone who has shown no symptoms or has shown mild symptoms, but that those chances are "very low."
Information for this article was contributed by Rachel Herzog of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 04/04/2020