Coronavirus hits NYPD — and there are more than 2 dozen officers out sick: Precinct is like a 'ghost town'

At least one NYPD officer has been diagnosed with coronavirus, according to WCBS-TV, but there are at least two dozen more officers out on sick leave with symptoms.

At least 1,650 New Yorkers are sick with the virus at the time of this writing, and 923 cases are within New York City. At least 10 people in New York have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What are the details?

The station reported that at least one officer with the city's 1st Precinct has tested positive for the virus, and more than two dozen NYPD staffers are out sick, and many of them are "feeling symptoms."

A total of 31 officers are on sick leave, and 17 are reportedly feeling symptoms of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the New York Post reported that "a fifth of their precinct's force" is out sick.

"That's a very large percent of the precinct out sick," the spokesman told the outlet.

The Post also noted that the NYPD officer represents "at least the fourth NYPD employee to test positive." Others include Transit Bureau Chief Edward Delatorre, Deputy Commissioner for Employee Relations Robert Ganley, and an unnamed Queens Schools safety agent.

Another alleged source told the New York Daily News that the precinct is like a "ghost town."

"The building is a ghost town," the source said. "Crime analysis, anti-crime, and the whole second floor are empty."

What else?

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that New Yorkers should prepare for a shelter-in-place order.

However, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said that de Blasio doesn't have the authority to hand down such an order without state approval, and insisted that the concept wouldn't work anyway.

"I don't think shelter-in-place really works for one locality," Cuomo said in response to de Blasio's remarks. "I'm a New York City boy, born and raised, if you can't tell. We're very good at getting around the rules — you say shelter-in-place if you stay in New York City, I'll go stay with my sister in Westchester."

De Blasio, however, added that the city is in dire straits, and citizens could only stand to benefit from a shelter-in-place order.

“How do you ensure not only a consistent food supply, but it gets to everyone who needs it regardless of ability to pay?" he asked, according to the station. "How do you ensure that medicines, including prescription medicines, get to those who need them regardless of ability to pay? ... We have to figure out that part of the equation. We're not there yet."