NYPD Detective Shantay Neal-Baker dies of COVID-19 at 42
"Her dedication to our department and the people of New York City will never be forgotten,” said the NYPD Commissioner
COVID-19 has taken the life of another New York Police Department (NYPD) officer.
Detective Shantay Neal-Baker lost her battle with the virus on Saturday, at age 42, NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea announced via Twitter.
“We’re saddened to announce that today we lost another member of our NYPD family,” Shea wrote. “Detective Shantay Neal-Baker, who faithfully served the people of NYC for 20 years, has lost her battle with #COVID19.”
“Our hearts go out to her friends & family — and we vow to #NeverForget Shantay,” he added.
In an internal memo obtained by the New York Post, Shea wrote that Neal-Baker started off her career as a Police Communications Technician before becoming an officer in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville and Williamsburg.
She also spent time in the NYPD’s Human Resources division as a volunteer peer support member as well as its Risk Mitigation Division as a performance analyst.
“We will always keep Shantay and her loved ones and colleagues in our prayers, and her dedication to our department and the people of New York City will never be forgotten,” Shea wrote to New York’s Finest.
The Post reported that a minimum of 58 NYPD members have lost their lives to COVID-19 complications thus far.
It is unconfirmed whether or not she was vaccinated against the virus, but recent data reveals the majority of NYPD officers haven’t gotten their shots. Per a report by the Post, “just over 23,000” of the 54,000 uniformed and civilian employees” working for the department — 43% — had been vaccinated as of July 21.
The New York Times reported that as of August 13, 77.3% of all New York adults had gotten at least one vaccine dose, while 69.7% had gotten both. That is 15th among all U.S. states and territories
COVID-19 cases remain on the rise in New York, according to data aggregated by the Times. On August 14, 4,675 new cases were reported in the Empire State, marking an 85% increase in the daily averages of cases since two weeks ago on August 1.
Also as of August 14, New York is administering an average of over 96,000 tests daily and is experiencing daily averages of 1,759 virus-related hospitalizations and 18 deaths.
Nationally, “cases are emerging at their highest rate in six months as the Delta variant continues to tear across the country,” per the Times, and while vaccines are “effective against the Delta variant, especially in preventing severe disease and death,” roughly half of Americans still haven’t gotten both of their shots. The Times added that “the pace of vaccination has increased modestly during the latest surge, to about 700,000 doses a day.”
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