HEALTH SCARE
POLICE COMMISH GETS COVID
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has COVID-19 — but he’s still working from home.
The city’s top cop has tested positive for coronavirus, department officials said Friday. He said he is on the job while trying to rest and recuperate at home.
Shea confirmed the diagnosis in an internal email to NYPD police and civilian members.
“As you’ve likely heard, I have tested positive for COVID-19 and am working remotely from home while the virus runs its course,” Shea said.
“I want to assure you that I’m feeling well and am in constant contact with our executive staff.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the office and, especially, to visiting with all of you out in the field as soon as possible.”
Shea had recently tested negative for the virus, but was tested again this week after a colleague received a positive diagnosis, a police source said.
He has not been at NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan since his diagnosis, said the source.
Shea’s last public appearance was on New Year’s Eve, officials said.
Word of his illness comes as Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo continue to fight over whether cops should receive the COVID vaccine.
De Blasio on Wednesday said the state immunization program had expanded to include NYPD officers as well as city and state correction officers.
But on the same day, Cuomo claimed that the category was more narrow.
“The only people eligible now are health care workers. Now, health care workers involve EMS, EMT, so members of the Fire Department who are EMS or EMT, or members of the police department who are EMS or EMT in any police department across the state or fire department across the state — they are all eligible as health care workers,” Cuomo said Wednesday.
“Police who are not health care workers are not yet eligible.”
De Blasio insisted Friday, however, that at least 25,000 NYPD officers were eligible to receive vaccinations because they’re trained to provide medical assistance, use CPR and administer NARCAN, a drug that counteracts opioid overdoses.
“The state of New York said New York City is not allowed to provide the vaccine to NYPD officers — even though they do provide CPR, they do provide NARCAN, they put themselves on the line in very frontline ways to save lives — they’re not allowed to be vaccinated,” said de Blasio.
“That just makes no sense whatsoever.”
Police unions voiced their frustration over the bickering between the two leaders.
“Due to another irresponsible, shameful decision from Albany, Detectives and their brothers and sisters in the @NYCPBA will NOT be eligible for the COVID vaccine at this time,” the Detectives’ Endowment Association said on Twitter.
“Lives are on the line and our state’s elected officials continue to play politics.”
Thousands of NYPD employees have fallen sick with COVID-19 and 48 have died since the pandemic hit New York City, according to officials.