Cop unions seek more masks
The head of the city’s largest police union claimed Friday that NYPD cops aren’t getting enough masks to respond to coronavirus calls across the city.
“They’ve given masks out, but it’s only one or two masks,” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said outside Jamaica Hospital in Queens, as he and members doled out sandwiches, fruit and water to doctors and nurses. “We shouldn’t be hanging them on our locker door, hoping they’ll be good the next day. They become ineffective.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association also tweeted Friday they would be distributing 80,000 units of hand sanitizer and bleach to all NYPD commands.
SBA President Ed Mullins said he’s been getting mixed responses from cops out in the field, so his members decided to take it upon themselves to deliver the goods.
“There are people who say they have enough supplies. There are people who say they don’t have enough,” said Mullins.
The Detectives Endowment Association and Captains Endowment Association also donated food to city hospitals Friday, covering NYU Langone Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center and and Lenox Hill Hospital, officials said.
The NYPD has repeatedly said that the department has enough masks, gloves and gowns for its officers and support staff.
Mayor de Blasio tapped former Police Commissioner James O’Neill earlier this week to lead a supply task force to makes sure that all first responders and hospitals have the equipment they need.
On Friday, de Blasio urged the federal government to deploy more resources to the city, warning that New York was quickly running out of ventilators and medical personnel.