TAMPA, Fla. — As Coronavirus spreads across local communities, Bay Area law enforcement agencies are not immune to infections.
- Bay area law enforcement agencies have plans in place for COVID-19
- 22 Tampa police employees quaratining
- 3 Hillsborough deputies self-isolating
- St. Pete police reports 2 cases
- CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES: The Tampa Bay area
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, three of its deputies are in self-quarantine after coming in contact with an unresponsive man who later tested positive for COVID-19.
Sheriff's Office officials said the man had apparently overdosed on heroin over the weekend and officers helped revive him with Narcan. None of the deputies are showing any symptoms of COVID-19 but out of an abundance of caution are self-quarantining for 14 days.
In Tampa, a second police department employee has tested positive for COVID-19. Police officials confirmed the second positive case is a police officer who is now in self-quarantine but doing alright.
In all, Tampa police officials said the department is actively monitoring 30 employees, 22 of them are quarantining.
Meanwhile in St. Petersburg, police officials said the department has two cases of COVID-19.
It tested five employees last week, with four results coming back negative. The positive rest result came from a police officer. That officer has not been in contact with co-workers or anyone in the public since March 10.
So far, Bay area law enforcement agencies have escaped any mass positive test results, however contingencies are in place in the event a local outbreak impacts any local agencies.
The supervisor of the St. Pete officer that tested positive was notified Monday and Chief Holloway sent a memo to all employees that same day.
The officer became ill after taking vacation time, before he return to work.
Police officials said: "He has not been on duty, has not been in the building, and has not had contact with anyone in our Department or on the road since March 10th. For this reason, we have no reason to believe any other officers may have been exposed."
This is the Department's second case of COVID-19. The first case was a civilian employee who is still recovering.
Out of 12 employees/officers who self-quarantined at home due to illness or possible exposure, 10 have tested negative for COVID -19 and the two mentioned above tested positive.