New York police officer tests positive for COVID-19 after taking bus ride with 50 others to Washington DC to help with inauguration security, forcing all of them to quarantine in their hotels
A New York Police Department cop tested positive for COVID-19 after riding in a bus with 50 other officers to Washington DC to help with security for the Inauguration ceremony.
The NYPD sent a total of 200 officers to nation’s capital to help with security, but the officers on one bus ended up quarantining in their hotels after a cop tested positive.
The cop, believed to be assigned to a precinct in Staten Island, felt fine upon boarding but felt symptoms during the trip. Once he arrived in DC he took a coronavirus test and proved positive.
'While he was there he became symptomatic. He lost his sense of smell,' a police spokesman said to the New York Post.
A New York Police Department cop tested positive for COVID-19 after riding in a bus with 50 other officers to Washington DC to help with security for the Inauguration ceremony. On Monday the NYPD shared video of the officers heading to the capital in buses from Queens
The NYPD sent a total of 200 officers to nation’s capital to help with security, but the officers on one bus ended up quarantining in their hotels after a cop tested positive
A view of NYPD buses leaving Queens and heading for Washington DC to help with Capitol security on Monday. Washington DC officials had requested help from law enforcement around the country in the wake of the January 6 capitol siege. More than 25,000 National Guard members were also brought in to DC for Inauguration Day
It’s unclear the last time the cop got a negative test in New York before getting on the bus.
DailyMail.com has reached out to NYPD for more details but it appears that the police officers were not tested for COVID-19 before packing into the buses, where social distancing is difficult.
The entire bus of about 50 officers and the driver were also tested and forced to quarantine after the incident. It is not known where they quarantined.
A police spokesman said only one other officer contracted the virus.
Washington DC officials had requested help from law enforcement around the country in the wake of the January 6 Capitol siege. More than 25,000 National Guard members were also brought in to DC for Inauguration Day.
A view of the US Capitol on Wednesday for Joe Biden's Inauguration ceremony above
The incident hasn’t surprised officials in the force.
'Unreal. Are you not surprised by this?' one source told the Post.
'I think it was horribly coordinated by the brass of the NYPD to have that many members of service on a bus sitting next to each other without getting a test prior to boarding the bus,' another police source said.