KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There are not enough masks to protect Kansas City, Missouri, police officers from COVID-19, according to Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police.
Brad Lemon, president of Kansas City FOP Lodge 99, called the shortage of personal protective equipment a "failure of huge proportions" on Wednesday in an interview with 41 Action News.
According to a release from KCPD, two of its personnel tested positive Tuesday for COVID-19. One is a sworn officer and one is a civilian worker.
But Lemon is concerned many more will become sick.
"We're three weeks into the conversation locally and we still don't have the necessary equipment to keep people safe," he said. "This has to get fixed, and it has to get fixed now."
It's not clear how the two employees came into contact with the virus, but both recovering at home, according to KCPD Sgt. Jake Becchina. He said Wednesday that all police officers have been provided with protective suits, masks and gloves during a morning press briefing.
"We received 500 masks yesterday as a donation provided to us," Becchina said.
It's not clear how many, if any, masks the department had before that donation.
Accoridng to Lemon, there are police officers within the department who are concerned for their health.
"All day long, all night long, my phone is ringing with people saying, 'I don't have equipment, We don't have masks. When are we going to get this?,'" Lemon said.
Becchina told 41 Action News that it's difficult to assess what constitutes "enough" when it comes to personal protective equipment.
KCPD has been trying to order more mask, Becchina said, but most of the country is facing a shortage of masks, which is why the department would welcome any additional donations.
Still, Lemon said he's frustrated that police officers have to put their lives and the health of their families at risk amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Furthermore, the entire community, he said, is being put at risk by a lack of testing.
"Our reality is we don't know how many people on the police department have this," Lemon said. "We're sending them into other people's houses on calls for service. We should not be risking putting that in other people's homes."
State health departments in Missouri and Kansas are only testing people suspected of having COVID-19 based on their symptoms or risk factors, including age and underlying health conditions. Police officers are no exception.
Becchina said the department is practicing social distancing in the community by asking people to come outside of their homes when on a call.
So far, KCPD has been lucky. Other departments in the U.S. are seeing much more widespread COVID-19 outbreaks within the department.
The New York Police Department has announced more than 1,000 positive COVID-19 cases and five deaths.
There are nearly 40 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Detroit Police Department, including the police chief and two officers who have died.
"We don’t want to see that here in Kansas City," Lemon said. "We want to see that there’s a response to try and keep our people from being sick."
