When nine police officers showed up to make an arrest near Melrose Avenue in the Bronx last Wednesday, none wore a mask or gloves to protect them from coronavirus.

Similar scenes play out all over the city daily: officers making arrests, walking their beats and responding to 911 calls without protective gear, according to interviews with nearly two dozen New York City officers and scenes witnessed by Reuters.

As of Monday, 930 members of the nation’s biggest police force had tested positive for the coronavirus, including 824 uniformed officers and 106 civilian staffers, according to NYPD. The department said 5,199 of its about 55,000 total employees are on sick leave.

Major city departments nationwide, such as Houston and Detroit, are being forced to sideline officers as infections rise in the ranks, according to a Reuters survey of the nation’s 20 largest U.S. police agencies conducted between March 25 and March 30. The police agencies have confirmed 1,169 cases of COVID-19 among officers or civilian staff, according to the survey and a Reuters review of the departments’ public statements.

Read more