West Palm Beach Police officer dies after battle with COVID-19
A West Palm Beach Police officer died Saturday from COVID-19, his department said on Sunday.
Officer Anthony Testa tested positive for the disease last month and was flown to Ohio to receive advanced care in an effort to save his life. Testa had worked for the department since 2017 and served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army.
The department announced Testa’s death in a tweet early Sunday morning.
“It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we announce the passing of Officer Anthony Testa,” the announcement read. “Officer Testa contracted COVID-19 and experienced complications related to the virus. Please keep the Testa family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.”
Testa is survived by a wife and son, among other family, WPTV-NBC5 reported.
In Ohio, Testa he received a treatment called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, according to WPEC-CBS12. It’s a procedure that takes the workload off the heart and lungs by pumping blood out of the body so it can be oxygenated, and then pumps the blood back in the body.
“It’s a nightmare that I can’t wake up from,” his wife,
Janine Testa, said at the time. “With the pandemic going on, there are no ECMO machines available in the state of Florida.”
His vaccination status was not known.
Robert Williams, also a West Palm Beach police officer, died Aug. 16 from COVID-19.
Williams was at least the fifth local law enforcement officer to die a COVID-19related death last month. Others included Fort Lauderdale police officer Jennifer Sepot, Florida Highway Patrol-Miami trooper Lazaro Febles, Miami Beach police officer Edward Perez and Coral Springs police officer Patrick Madison.
“[Testa] was a combat medic,” Rick Morris, deputy chief of the West Palm Beach Police Department, told WPEC. “He saved quite a few lives in the community. The last time I had contact with Officer Testa, he was actually applying a tourniquet to a gunshot victim. He saved his life.”
Last year, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death among police officers in Florida. It remains the leading killer of law enforcement officers nationwide.