A new law signed today by Governor JB Pritzker will provide full disability benefits to first responders in Chicago who contracted COVID-19 during the earliest days of the pandemic.

Line of duty disability benefits haven’t been available to cops and fire fighters who were left disabled due to COVID before June 30 of 2021. The law was championed by Comptroller Susana Mendoza whose brother got COVID on the job and suffered strokes, lost a kidney and is now permanently disabled.

Mendoza says about 18-20 police officers are in the same position as her brother and they should now be able to receive full benefits that include 75 percent of their salaries and health care coverage.