Coronavirus cases are rising throughout Texas among all kinds of workers, but law enforcement appear to be particularly at risk. New data from the Austin Police Department and Travis County Sheriff’s Office suggest a spike in cases in recent weeks.
TCSO Public Information Officer Kristen Dark said Monday that 42 employees have tested positive since the start of the pandemic, including 27 corrections officers, five law enforcement officers, and ten administrative and support personnel.
Eight of those cases are new within the past week. TCSO has managed to limit the spread within the county jail, with only one new coronavirus case in the inmate population this week, and two confirmed cases overall among inmates at this time, both of whom are quarantined.
The Austin Police Department, for its part, said Tuesday that 22 of its officers have tested positive for COVID-19, plus 17 civilian employees, for a total of 39 cases. Together with the 42 TCSO cases, that makes for 81 law enforcement personnel who have been infected.
APD has about 2,600 personnel, so a case count of 39 would represent a 1.5% infection rate. That compares to a 0.7% rate in general population in Texas (including recovered cases).
The Austin Police Association has accused protesters of spreading COVID-19 to officers. President Ken Cassady said only six APD employees had coronavirus before the protests, and now there are dozens of cases.
The Association released a statement June 27 saying, “We find it very concerning that we are starting to have officers test positive with Covid-19 at an alarming rate. What do most of them have in common? They’ve been working the protest/riots with people yelling, screaming and spitting in their faces. It’s time for our elected officials to call this behavior out.”
Many protesters in Austin wore masks, but not all did so. Likewise, some police officer wore masks, while others did not.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that large gatherings where social distancing is not possible are the “highest risk” type of gathering, increasing the likelihood of transmission of the virus. However, the virus also reportedly does not spread as well outdoors.
