The New York City police department announced yesterday that about 15 percent of all uniformed officers, about 5,600, are currently out sick amid the coronavirus pandemic.
And the police department has suffered five deaths so far – but all five of the dead officers are Black. That’s a surprising fact, given that Blacks make up less than 14% of the department.
Here are the five officers who died:
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told the media that as of Tuesday evening, 1,048 uniformed members and 145 civilian members tested positive for coronavirus
The commissioner did not address the apparent racial disparity in police deaths, but he did offer some possible short term solutions to the coronavirus problem with police.
“We’ve instituted something really unprecedented in the NYPD,” he said. “Have thousands of people working for home, both on uniformed and civilian side. And that’s been going on now for weeks.”
Separately, the NYPD and New York City Police Foundation announced the purchase of 150,000 units each of masks, gloves, and packets of hand sanitizer for officers.