New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea revealed at a press conference that 98 employees with the department have tested positive for the CCP virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
NTD refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.
Speaking at a presser alongside Mayor de Blasio on Sunday, Shea explained that out of 98 infected employees, 70 were uniformed officers, and 28 were civilian employees. Three workers are reportedly hospitalized, Shea said.
The NYPD is the largest police force in the nation and has 36,000 officers and nearly 20,000 civilian members. Shea said that, overall, a small percentage of the police force has been infected, NY1 reported.
Healing prayers for our 98 Officers, @NYPDnews, who tested positive. Three are hospitalized. ???????????????????? ~M https://t.co/JuGDpzZXqh
— Walk With Blue (@BlueWalkPoconos) March 22, 2020
“The belief at this time, with very limited information obviously, is that it’s not necessarily contracted at work,” Shea added, according to SiLive.com.
Another remarkable feature was the fact that 31 of the 70 infected officers were stationed at Manhattan’s first precinct, reducing 17 percent of the workforce. The shortage has compelled the department to call in the Movie and TV unit to fill in, Fox reported. The first precinct is an area that spans Tribeca, Wall Street, SOHO, and the World Trade Center.
“We will be moving resources around,” Shea said, according to the outlet. “I usually get the question about do we have to extend tours? We’re not at that point yet, we have more than enough resources right now.”
The sudden spike in positive test results came as no surprise, according to Shea, since the number of tests rises, so do the number of registered infected people.
“In terms of the testing, the numbers are going up because the testing in the entire city is going up. So that is not unexpected,” he said.
“What we do is when we get those calls to our sick desk on a case-by-case basis, we are reviewing the facts and making a determination. And we have put people out on quarantine when they are not symptomatic because of close contact,” Shea said, adding the NYPD has a panel of doctors especially assigned to assess the sick leave applications.
According to Fox, however, trade unions have complained the officers are insufficiently protected against the highly contagious virus.
The Big Apple has become a hotspot for the CCP virus, with a total of 10,764 confirmed COVID-19 cases, resulting in 99 deaths, according to a Monday update of cases from Johns Hopkins University.
