NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea Tests Positive For Coronavirus

NEW YORK CITY — The city’s top cop Dermot Shea tested positive for COVID-19, NYPD officials said.

Shea, the police commissioner, is staying home and running the NYPD remotely, according to a tweet Friday.

“He’s doing well,” @NYPDnews tweeted. “He’s in touch with his executive staff on a regular basis.”

Police Commissioner @NYPDShea has tested positive for COVID. He’s doing well. He’s in touch with his executive staff on a regular basis. He’s staying home and he is running the Police Department remotely.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 8, 2021

Shea is perhaps the highest-profile city official to be diagnosed with COVID-19. His positive test unfolded as Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo engaged in a public spat over distributing the coronavirus vaccine to NYPD personnel.

The city planned to give out 25,000 vaccine doses to police but was explicitly told by state officials to halt that plan.

Cuomo said police don’t qualify as members of category 1a — the state’s designation for health care workers and others who are the only people now eligible to receive the vaccine.