LAPD's COVID Cases Double In A Week

Los Angeles CA

24 August, 2021

3:45 PM

Description

LOS ANGELES, CA — Coronavirus cases among Los Angeles police officers have, once again, spiked, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday. Over the last week, 84 police officers have tested positive for COVID-19 and two more have been hospitalized with the coronavirus. The announcement comes the same month the department mourned its 10th COVID-19th death and as nearly 60,000 Los Angeles city employees face a vaccine requirement. The department's vaccination rate lags behind the general population. Last week, the City Council voted unanimously to approve a vaccine requirement for city employees, but the law won't take effect until the mayor signs it. SEE ALSO: 27-Year LAPD Veteran Becky V. Strong Dies From COVID-19 Mayor Eric Garcetti's office has not said when he plans to sign the ordinance. The city is currently negotiating the details with employee unions. As of yet, there is no set deadline for the mandate to take effect nor specified consequences for employees. Garcetti did not respond to a request for comment about his progress or timeline for signing the law. "We need to do everything in our power to protect the health and safety of those who keep our city running and the Angelenos who rely on the services they provide every day," Garcetti said in a statement issued to the New York Times. "This requirement is the surest way to achieve that and set an example for others to follow." A total of 2,977 employees have tested positive for the virus as of this week, and the increase in the last week is almost double the number who tested positive the previous week, when 45 LAPD employees tested positive for the virus. Four employees who were in the hospital last week were released and are at home recovering. Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday that 26 of the new COVID-19 cases at the department are concentrated in the Central Area in downtown Los Angeles. Protective measures are being taken at the Central Area station, including restricting front desk access, in an effort to reduce the infection rate, Moore said. The LAPD on Monday began its mobile vaccination clinic deployment in an effort to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates within the department. Each station will have a clinic that runs for 20 hours per day, allowing night shift and day shift employees to get vaccinated. On its first day of deployment, which was in the San Fernando Valley, 19 LAPD employees got vaccinated, Moore said. City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.