NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An increasing number of NYPD officers are calling out sick, with nearly 8% of the department’s uniformed members off work Tuesday as the city sees a COVID-19 spike with the rise of the omicron variant.
Sources told the New York Post that 2,712 uniformed members—or about 7.8% of the department’s 36,000 officers—called out of work Tuesday. Of those, 342 tested positive for COVID-19.
It’s roughly a 13% increase from Monday, when 2,394, or 6.9%, of officers were out sick, an official told CNN.
Normally, only about 3% of uniformed members are out sick, according to the report, which said three officers are hospitalized.
By comparison, about 22% of the NYPD’s workforce was out sick during the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020.
The NYPD implemented a new masking policy this week requiring all officers to wear face coverings while on duty regardless of their vaccination status.
The CDC estimates that more than 90% of new cases in the New York area are linked to the omicron variant.
As recently as Dec. 13, New York City had been averaging fewer than 3,600 new cases of COVID-19 each day. But after nearly 63,500 people tested positive in just five days, the average daily number of infections had climbed to nearly 11,000 as of Monday — an increase of 207% in a week.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the federal government is expected to help set up more testing sites across the five boroughs. The city is also increasing its city-run sites, including brick-and-mortar locations and mobile testing vans, amid a surge in demand.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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