L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tests positive for coronavirus - Los Angeles Times
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L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tests positive for coronavirus

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in uniform at a lectern
L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva addresses vaccine mandates at a news conference in November.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
By Gregory Yee
 and Alene Tchekmedyian
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Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesperson for his department confirmed Tuesday.

Villanueva was in good spirits, Capt. Lorena Rodriguez, a Sheriff’s Department spokesperson, told The Times.

She did not confirm whether the sheriff, who has been vaccinated, was boosted or say how he contracted the virus.

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In February, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors moved to take COVID-19 vaccine mandate enforcement responsibilities away from Villanueva, who repeatedly said he would not fire deputies who refuse to get vaccinated.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 26: Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva discusses organizational change, transparency, accountability and how they relate to the issue of deputy cliques during a press conference at the Hall of Justice Wednesday May 26, 2021. The Sheriff also addressed a damages claim filed by the city of Compton against Los Angeles County today, alleging the sheriff's department has bilked the city out of millions of dollars by falsely reporting the amount of time deputies spend patrolling the city. Sheriff Alex Villanueva dismissed the allegations. "We have about 45 contracts and we measure the minutes, and there's a rate -- we have to get close to 100%, either slightly above or slightly below,'' Villanueva said. "If we're missing that target, I don't think it's going to be the grand conspiracy that the outgoing mayor of Compton wants it to be. "But we'll definitely take the allegation seriously, and we are already doing a thorough audit on it, and we'll take action based on the results of that. Nothing unusual there. But to call it a fraud, that might be a little bit of a stretch.'' Hall of Justice on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times).

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The sheriff, who is seeking reelection, repeatedly criticized the mandate and claimed enforcing it would lead to a “mass exodus” from the force.

In lieu of the mandate, Villanueva required unvaccinated employees to get weekly coronavirus tests and threatened to discipline employees for insubordination if they refused to share their vaccination status.

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After a tight primary race, the sheriff is headed to a November runoff against retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, who trailed Villanueva by about 5 percentage points.

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Gregory Yee

Gregory Yee was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Before joining the newsroom in 2021, he spent five years covering criminal justice and breaking news for the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. He was a native Southern Californian and graduated from UC Irvine in 2012 with a degree in journalism and Spanish literature. Yee died Jan. 4, 2023.

Alene Tchekmedyian

Alene Tchekmedyian is an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times. She previously covered the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, focusing on accountability stories and writing about failures by officials to comply with transparency laws. Before joining The Times in 2016, she reported on crime and policing for the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader.

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