NYPD COVID-19 sick report drops for eighth day in a row as another member dies

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Fifty people were removed from eNVee Barber Shop by Officers from the 69th Precinct on Saturday night. Cops wear PPE. (Photo by lloyd Mitchell)

BY TODD MAISEL

The number of NYPD members out sick continued to drop for the eighth day to 14% of the uniform officers, but yet another member of the department lost her life to COVID-19 – the 29th casualty to the contagion.

The NYPD announced the death of a Traffic Enforcement Agent Jason Lewis, assigned to the TRB North Intersection Control, who died on Saturday, April 18, from complications related to the coronavirus. Traffic Enforcement Agent Lewis became a member of the NYPD on February 2, 2009.

On April 19, 5,055 uniformed members of the NYPD were on sick report which accounts for 14 percent of the Department’s uniformed workforce, down from 14.7 the day before. It is also down from a high of 19.8% in the first week of April.

To date, 4,371 members of the NYPD have tested positive for coronavirus. As of today, Sunday, April 19,  2,270 members of the NYPD have returned to work full duty after recovering from a positive test for the coronavirus and 1,706 uniformed members plus 367 civilian members are still out sick diagnosed with coronavirus.

Officers continued to visit restaurants, bars, supermarkets, salons and public spaces to remind individuals of the ban on congregating in public spaces and to practice social distancing. Many supermarkets are now limiting the number of people who come into their stores to facilitate social distancing.

 From Saturday to Sunday, cops visited 2,627 supermarkets and pharmacies of which 1,463 were closed; 6,746 bars and restaurants of which 5,413 were closed; 1,244 public places of which 781 were closed; 2954 personal care facilities of which 2,953 were closed.

Most notable of the personal care facilities was on Saturday night when cops from the 69th Precinct issued 60 summonses and made two arrests at a barbershop in Canarsie where a rapper was producing a video and throwing an after-party. Commissioner Dermot Shea said three people were issued summonses at 770 Eastern Parkway at the Lubavitch Headquarters, where several people resisted efforts to break up a gathering.

The mayor also addressed questions about breaking up gatherings in Orthodox neighborhoods and said officers will be issuing summonses and possibly making arrests at locations where people resist efforts to break up gatherings.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the law will be applied equally to all illegal gatherings.

Most notable in the Borough Park community was the death of Supreme Court Judge Noach Dear, a fixture in that neighborhood as a former city councilman before being named to the bench. Hundreds of people from the Orthodox Jewish communities of Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg have died from COVID-19.

This story first appeared on amNY.com