CLAYTON, Mo. — In an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Clayton Police Department will be stationing half of its patrol division at Wydown Middle School.
"Dividing the patrol personnel should prevent an entire squad or more from being quarantined if one officer is infected with COVID-19," interim chief Mark J. Smith wrote Wednesday on Facebook.
The rest of the division will stay at its station on S. Brentwood Boulevard, and people taken into custody will continue to be jailed at the station.
The school has been closed as St. Louis County remains under a stay-at-home order.
"We would like to thank the School District of Clayton for their generosity in allowing us to use Wydown Middle School," Smith said. "We will take good care of the building, and we will be good neighbors to the residents near the school."
As of Wednesday, there were 1686 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Missouri.
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