[NY Post] New York City’s health commissioner blew off an urgent NYPD request for 500,000 surgical masks as the coronavirus crisis mounted — telling a high-ranking police official that "I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops," The Post has learned.Dr. Oxiris Barbot made the heartless remark during a brief phone conversation in late March with NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Monahan asked Barbot for 500,000 masks but she said she could only provide 50,000, the sources said.
"I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops," Barbot said, according to sources.
"I need them for others."
| Police versus frontline hospital staff at the time when New York City didn’t have nearly enough for the hospital staff because China had cancelled their order? Dr. Barbot was blunt, to be sure, but it was the right call. She should have told Chief Monahan to call for volunteers to sew reusable masks — no doubt they would have been inundated with the things, and fewer police would have got sick and died. A lesson all around. |
Although surgical masks don't necessarily prevent wearers from being infected with the coronavirus, they can prevent people from spreading it to others.
The NYPD has recorded 5,490 cases of coronavirus among its 55,000 cops and civilian workers, with 41 deaths, according to figures released Wednesday evening.
| An infection rate of 10%, of which 0.75% of those who tested positive died, if I did the calculations right. Donut stereotypes to the contrary, it looks like NY City police can be proud of being a healthy bunch. One shudders to think how much worse it might have been, were they not. |
The department appealed to City Hall, which arranged for the NYPD to get 250,000 surgical masks, sources said.
| Squeaky wheels... |
De Blasio: NYC health chief’s ‘rats’ asses’ comment to NYPD was ‘inappropriate’
[NYPOST] Mayor Comrade Bill de Blasio
...cryptocommie mayor of New York and for some reason a Dem candidate for president in 2020. Corrupt and incompetent, his qualifications for office seem to consist of being married to a black woman, with whom he honeymooned in Cuba. He has a preppy-looking son named Dante, whose Divine Comedy involved getting his back hair up when a police car drove past him slowly. New Yorkers voted for him, so they deserve him...said Thursday that he’s "concerned" about the revelations that the city’s health commissioner ignored an NYPD request for 500,000 surgical masks amid the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
crisis, telling a police official that she didn’t give "two rats’ asses about your cops" — and added it would be "inappropriate" to say.
"I need to understand what happened here. I am concerned about it," de Blasio said during his daily press briefing when he was asked about the callous comments made by Dr. Oxiris Barbot.
"It obviously raises real concerns for me," the mayor said.
The Post exclusively reported Wednesday that Barbot made the remark during a brief, mid-March phone conversation with NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan.
During that conversation, Monahan asked Barbot for 500,000 surgical masks as the COVID-19 crisis was mounting, but she said she could only provide 50,000, the sources said.
"I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops," Barbot said, according to sources, during a heated exchange. "I need them for others."
Barbot was noticeably absent from de Blasio’s daily press briefing Thursday.
"If what is being reported is accurate, the commissioner [Barbot] needs to apologize to the men and women of the NYPD, unquestionably," de Blasio said.
Hizzoner added, "No public servant should never in any way say anything disrespectful about the men and women of the NYPD. They protect us and we need to protect them.”
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Bill de Blasio: 2020-05-09 NYC politicians outraged after NYPD reveals 80% of social distancing arrests have been minorities
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Bill de Blasio: 2020-05-07 NYC leaders slam de Blasio plan to cut frontline workers, suggest slashing ThriveNYC instead