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Posted5/7/2021 5:20 AM
The deadliest threat facing law enforcement officers across the country over the past year hasn t been armed criminals, high-speed pursuits or reckless drivers crashing into patrol vehicles.
It s been COVID-19.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 297 officers including nine in Illinois have died after contracting the virus as a result of their duties. That s nearly 200 more than all other causes combined over the same time frame.
But despite those sobering statistics, police officers nationwide have been slow to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report this week in The Washington Post. Although police were among the first with access, less than 40% of officers in several major-city departments New York, Atlanta and Phoenix among them have received even one dose, the Post reported. That compares to nearly 57% of adults nationwide, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.