Police officer tests positive for COVID-19
Ten other department employees quarantined
A Warren police officer who has been under quarantine for several days has tested positive for COVID-19.
The officer, whose name was not revealed, had been on quarantine for several days while awaiting the outcome of his test result, which came back Saturday, Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said Monday.
The positive test for that coronavirus may be the first of its kind in the Macomb County law enforcement community.
“I talked to him Saturday. He’s still (remaining) in quarantine for a period of time,” Dwyer said.
“We’re concerned, obviously, about him.”
Nine other Warren patrol officers plus one civilian employee are in various lengths of quarantine, he said. Not all of the officers have been tested for the coronavirus. A few have some symptoms consistent with COVID-19 but others have been quarantined for possible exposure.
Among those in the latter group are two officers who went to the residence
of a woman shortly after she died while under hospice care but police officials later learned the woman had contracted COVID-19, police said.
An unspecified number of Warren officers will remain off-duty for approximately seven to 10 days, Dwyer said. However, about three to four officers are scheduled to return to active duty late this week if they remain symptom-free, the police commissioner said.
“We’re taking all the safety precautions we can,” said Dwyer, noting the police administration has
been working with the Warren Police Officers Association on safety measures.
At the start of each shift in the Police Department, a commander takes the temperature of each officer. Individuals with a temperature of 100 or higher are sent home and told to actively monitor their symptoms. They will not be allowed to return to work for at least seven days and until remaining fever-free for at least three days without the benefit of medication.
Offices also have been provided with masks – 1,500 surgical masks were delivered last week – plus
gloves, hand sanitizer and spray disinfectant for wiping down the interior of each patrol vehicle twice per day.
Dwyer hopes the city can soon acquire full facial shields. Patrol officers are no longer riding in 2-man units, and the lobby of police headquarters and the police mini-station inside Civic Center South, on Van Dyke Avenue near Nine Mile Road, are closed to the public.
“So far, I think we’ve been very fortunate. It’s unfortunate that we have the one that tested positive,” he added.