Pittsburgh police officer positive for covid-19, in-person training canceled

A Pittsburgh Police officer has tested positive for covid-19, causing “a number of other officers and supervisors” to isolate and quarantine, officials said Wednesday.

In addition, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich suspended all in-person training programs and inter-unit rotations for police, fire and EMS until sometime next month.

“Protecting Public Safety personnel is of paramount importance at all times, but even more so during this pandemic,” Hissrich said in a statement. “That requires keeping our personnel healthy so there is a full complement of first responders ready and available to serve and protect Pittsburgh residents and visitors.”

Officials did not identify the officer who tested positive or which Zone they work in, nor did they say how many other officers and supervisors were forced to isolate or quarantine.

Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said said via email that the number in isolation is “thankfully still very low.”

“The move by the director today is a concerted effort to keep it that way,” she said.

She also noted that no members of the command staff are in isolation, nor are any civilian staff members.

The Public Safety Department saw its first affected employee on April 1 when a Pittsburgh firefighter tested positive for the virus. The following week, a police academy firearms instructor tested positive for the virus, prompting the suspension of a 28-member recruit class.

Three days later, three more police employees tested positive for the virus: an officer in the administrative branch, a recruit and an instructor.

In July, the fire bureau training academy was shut down for a time after an instructor reported having covid-19 symptoms, leading to 36 recruits and instructors having to quarantine.