Seven members of Bradenton police and Manatee Sheriff’s Office test positive for coronavirus
Seven members of Manatee County’s two largest law enforcement departments have tested positive for the coronavirus.
At the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office five employees — one deputy, one detective and three civilians — have recently tested positive, according to spokesman Randy Warren. The three civilians work in clerical positions and the deputy was not showing symptoms.
A detective and a dispatcher at the Bradenton Police Department learned they had tested positive on Monday, according to police spokesman Capt. Brian Thiers.
“The detective started not feeling well and stayed home. Next day he was tested and tested positive,” Thiers said. “Everybody who was in contact with him has rapid tested negative.”
The detective was tested on Friday and the dispatcher was tested a week ago.
The department was notified of the positive tests in internal memo from Police Chief Melanie Bevan on Tuesday.
“Neither is able to determine how they may have contracted COVID-19, and both report minimal outside contact with people,” Bevan told her staff.
Both employees are recuperating at home but feeling poorly, according to the memo.
“Please everyone, continue to follow established agency protocol and CDC guidelines (to include wearing a face mask while on calls for service) as you continue to serve on the frontlines,” Bevan ordered staff.
The department’s headquarters, meanwhile, remains closed to the public. The department’s COVID-19 protocols also remain in place, including limiting contact with one another in the office and mandatory temperature checks, according to Thiers.
Bevan has sent several memos throughout the pandemic updating officers and civilian personnel of those protocols, including the recommendations that masks be worn when interacting with the public, but wearing masks has never been mandatory.
At the sheriff’s office, deputies have been instructed to maintain social distancing when possible, wear gloves and wipe down their vehicles, but there is no requirement that they wear masks.
In recent weeks law enforcement officers from the Bradenton and Palmetto police departments and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office have been seen not wearing masks or practicing social distancing in public, which is essential in stopping the spread of the virus, according to infectious disease and public health experts.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 11:04 AM.
