38 detainees at Cook County Jail have contracted COVID-19

Two women walk toward a visitor's entrance of a maximum security detention area of the Cook County jail in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The number of detainees at Cook County Jail with COVID-19 has risen to 38, Sheriff Tom Dart said Friday in a news conference.

On Thursday, the Cook County sheriff’s office announced that 24 detainees and nine employees of the jail have tested positive for the disease.

ILLINOIS PRISONS HALT ADMISSIONS FROM COUNTY JAILS TO SLOW SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS

Dart used the news conference to speak about the transformation of the jail’s boot camp into a temporary shelter for the isolation of detainees with the new coronavirus.