A second employee of the New York City Police Department has died as the city grapples with hundreds of sick officers and support workers.
Officials announced Friday that civilian employee Giacomina Barr-Brown, who has worked with the NYPD for seven years, died Thursday at her home.
“It is with great sadness that the New York City Police Department announces the death of another member of our family stemming from the coronavirus pandemic,” the NYPD said in a statement. The death came the same day as the department confirmed that Dennis Dickson, 14-year custodian at police headquarters, died at a Brooklyn hospital.
“Mr. Dickson was again on the front line cleaning and disinfecting 1 Police Plaza so that our personnel could be here safely,” the department said after his death.
As of Friday, more than 500 NYPD employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. Of those, 442 are officers. The total number of civilians and officers diagnosed with the virus was only 52 one week ago.
In addition to the 512 employees with the coronavirus, the country’s largest police force has had 11.4% of the workforce, more than 4,000 officers and civilian workers, call in sick this week.
New York, and New York City in particular, have become a hot spot for the virus. There have been more than 44,000 cases and at least 519 deaths in the state. More than 26,000 of those infections were in New York City, according to the latest reading by the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The United States surpassed 100,000 cases in total on Friday. As of Friday evening, there are about 104,000 confirmed infections and almost 1,700 deaths.
