Coronavirus: NYPD officer who overcame 9/11-related cancer dies from virus

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A New York City police officer, who overcame 9/11 related cancer, has died after contracting Covid-19.

Detective Robert Cardona died from coronavirus related complications on Wednesday, according to NYPD chief of detectives, Rodney Harrison.

Mr Cardona worked for the NYPD for 19 years and leaves behind a young son.

Mr Harrison publicly announced Mr Cardona’s death on his Twitter page, saying that “today we lost another great detective to Covid-19 complications.”

He added that “detective Robert Cardona is a 19 year veteran and leaves behind an 8-year-old son. While assigned to the 13th Precinct Detective Squad, Robert was a 911 cancer survivor and dedicated DEA delegate.”

As of Wednesday, there are 6,274 uniformed NYPD officers off work sick, which is 17.3% of the workforce.

Wednesday was the sixth day in a row that the number of officers on sick leave decreased for the NYPD, according to the Staten Island Advance.

The number is 98 less than Tuesday, when 6,372 uniformed officers called in sick.

New York State has been badly affected by the coronavirus outbreak and currently has the largest number of confirmed positive cases in the US.

Google’s dedicated coronavirus page shows that New York State has upwards of 213,779 confirmed cases and at least 11,586 deaths.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, nationally there are upwards of 640,291 people who have tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll has reached at least 31,195.