LAPD Reports 110 Employees Have Tested Positive For COVID-19 Since Pandemic Began, 52 Have Recovered

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles Police Department reported Thursday that 110 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

As of Thursday, 52 LAPD employees have recovered and returned to work, and one remains hospitalized, according to Emergency Operations Center's Jessica Kellogg.

All other individuals are self-isolating at home and recovering.

Additionally, the LAPD said Thursday that 17 recruits at Ahmanson Recruit Training Center have tested positive for the virus. Nine are police officer recruits, and eight are jailer trainees.

One staff member at the Westchester facility has also tested positive. Classes have been suspended at the center in order to let the recruits recover.

"The department is aware that coming to work as a recruit or as a full-time officer puts an individual in jeopardy of contracting COVID-19," the LAPD's Media Relations Division said in a statement to City News Service. "We have taken every precaution to ensure our employees and trainees are able to learn and work in a safe environment. However, we must train new police officers to maintain staffing levels that will keep this city safe.

"This job is too important to abbreviate or eliminate learning modules, because of the coronavirus. Officers need to learn these critical skills so they are able to live up to the high standards expected of every man and woman on this department."

The number of Los Angeles Fire Department employees who have tested positive for the virus remained at 28 Thursday, Kellogg reported.

Out of the LAFD employees, 22 have recovered and returned to work, and none are hospitalized.

The remaining six employees are isolated and recovering at home.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)