A 19-year veteran of the NYPD has died from complications of coronavirus, the 60th member of the police department who succumbed to COVID-19.
Police Officer Sony Clerge, assigned to the Transit Borough Manhattan Task Force, died Friday morning, police commissioner Dermot Shea said.
“For more than 19 years, police officer Sony Clerge proudly served the people of New York and helped keep our traffic system safe,” the the best cop in town has tweeted. “The heart of the NYPD family is a little more broken today. Sony and his family are always in our prayers. ”
Clerge’s death comes just days after the death of another officer, Detective Shantay Neal-Baker, who succumbed to coronavirus complications Saturday.
Most of the NYPD’s 60 coronavirus fatalities were civilian employees of the department.
The police group has intensified its efforts to vaccinate police against the virus, as the department struggles to exceed the 50% immunization rate, although officers were one of the first groups available to get the puncture early. of this year.
A police spokeswoman said Friday that the current vaccination rate is 47% for just under 35,000 uniformed officers in the department and about 18,000 civilian members.
Less than 0.001% of vaccinated Americans have died from advanced infections, suggesting that vaccinations are the best way to prevent death, according to the CDC.
Earlier this week, the NYPD deployed new masking guidelines for unvaccinated police officers, forcing them to wear face masks almost always while they were working.