Thousands of LA-area law enforcement personnel out sick, quarantined ahead of Super Bowl

COVID-19 has hit both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, with around 2,500 personnel out sick or quarantining due to the coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reported.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the newspaper that COVID-19 is having “a substantial impact on our deployment.”

The high number of call-outs comes just two weeks away from the Super Bowl, which is slated to be held in the city’s SoFi Stadium.

Both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have been impacted. The report said 1,300 LAPD staff and about 1,200 sheriff’s personnel are out sick.

Moore added that 83 percent of his staff is vaccinated but the LAPD is seeing a spike in breakthrough cases. The large increase in cases comes a week after Los Angeles surpassed 2 million COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic. 

“What we’re following very closely is this impact on our deployment numbers as we approach the Super Bowl week of celebration and events here,” he said, according to the Times. 

He said the LAPD is “looking at contingency planning” for staffing events the week of the Super Bowl. 

The surge in cases also reflects a wider citywide spike in coronavirus cases.

COVID-19 cases in the Los Angeles area are almost 10 times higher than they were one month ago as the omicron variant spreads rapidly.

The county has also reported an uptick in COVID-19 deaths, with daily fatalities resulting from the virus doubling in just one week. On Thursday, the county reported 102 COVID-19 deaths, marking the most fatalities it has seen in a day since March 10, according to the county’s public health department.