The NYPD is still trying to supply cops with gloves and masks amid a jump in the coronavirus outbreak within the force, an internal memo obtained by The Post shows.
“We have been working to get you gloves, masks, and antiseptic equipment and supplies as quickly as possible — the tools you need to do your job safely and effectively,” an email from NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea reads.
The message was sent Friday night — when the number of confirmed cases among first responders had jumped to 52, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Members of the Finest have condemned the top brass’s response to the pandemic, saying they felt “expendable” amid a lack of supplies and uncertainty over possible shift changes, sources told The Post.
“It’s important to know that the city’s current reality is one in which even health-care workers don’t have enough necessary equipment, including masks,” Shea wrote to officers. “And as you’ve seen in the news, COVID-19 tests are also in short supply.”
The NYPD set up coronavirus testing for first responders Wednesday — but ran out of the tests by midday and began turning officers away, sources said.
The testing came a day after an officer from Lower Manhattan’s 1st Precinct tested positive for the virus while more than 30 other cops at the station called in sick.
Friday’s memo also reinforced an earlier directive that cops could keep working even if they come in contact with an infected person, and that they would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by a panel of departmental experts.
“If officers are not symptomatic they can continue to work unless the panel that other steps are more appropriate based on work experience,” Shea wrote.
Cops who have come in close contact with the virus have been told to take extra precautions, including hand washing and distancing.
“We must absolutely use all of the tools at our disposal — but we have to do it smartly and sparingly. And we must operate as though there is not guarantee of re-supply,” wrote Shea in the email, adding the NYPD response would remain “fluid.”
“We are very much in this predicament together — as a police department, as a city, and as a nation.”