Coronavirus Claims Life Of Second Chicago Police Officer; CPD Announces 170 COVID-19 Cases
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A second Chicago police officer has died from COVID-19, the police department said Friday.
CPD is not yet releasing the officer's name, but an email from interim police Supt. Charlie Beck informed the department of the death. The officer worked at Area Central in the detective bureau, Beck said.
"I implore you to take care of each other and your families," Beck wrote. "This illness can be severe and it does not discriminate."
"It is important to remember that you will not go through this alone," added Beck, urging officers to also take care of their mental health during the crisis.
Gov. JB Pritzker said the death "is a loss to all of us."
"Our first responders, they're the ones protecting us; they and our healthcare workers, and so every loss of life is a loss to all of us, but someone who's out there every day, who as they leave their home and kiss their family goodbye knows that they're exposing themselves potentially to people who have COVID-19, and doing so to protect all of us, those people are worthy of some special note.Those are heroes," he said.
"Every loss is important to us who are paying attention to every loss, but again those heroes are special, and should be taken note of each time."
As of Friday afternoon, the Chicago Police Department said it had 170 members who have tested positive for COVID-19; including 63 sworn officers and seven civilian employees.
The family of the first Chicago police officer to die from the coronavirus said goodbye to him Thursday morning.
Marco DiFranco was a 21-year veteran of the force and was most recently serving as a narcotics undercover detective.
DiFranco's family held private service in Norridge as he was laid to rest. DiFranco is survived by a wife, two children -- ages 7 and 10 -- and a brother who is also a narcotics officer.