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84 employees of LAPD test positive for Covid, nearly doubling cases in one week

The Los Angeles Police Department is subject to the city's vaccination mandate, and less than 50 percent of its employees are fully vaccinated.
LAPD officers being under an order to wear masks.
Police officers patrol Union Station in Los Angeles on Aug. 11.Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The Los Angeles Police Department said over 80 of its employees have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week, nearly doubling its case numbers from the previous week as its vaccination rate hovers below 50 percent.

Of the 84 cases, 26 were at the city's Central Division station, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The data from the police department show that the overall weekly numbers have doubled as the vaccination rate within the department remains around 47 percent, according to NBC Los Angeles.

In a statement to NBC News, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said they are "currently investigating these reported LAPD cases and, once they are confirmed, it will then be publicly reported on our website."

The Los Angeles City Council mandated last week that city workers, including police officers, be fully vaccinated by October.

"This is not radical. This is just common sense," City Council President Nury Martinez said after the mandate passed, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The mandate was denounced by city fire Capt. Chris Granucci, who said in a video posted on Telegram that he is "hopping mad."

"There is a large group of us, in the hundreds, and we have an attorney on retainer, and he is a shark," Granucci said.

Fire officials warned of a "devastating impact on public safety" if "even a small percentage" of firefighters were forced out because of their refusal to be vaccinated.

Granucci is under investigation for making the public opinion statement apparently while wearing a fire department uniform.

Police Chief Michel Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.