4/22/2020
By Aaron Katersky and Ivan Pereira
They traveled from all over the country to lend a helping hand to the Big Apple. They left Wednesday with a hero’s salute from New York’s Finest.
NYPD officers lined up outside the Park Central Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and saluted the out-of-state medical workers who resided there while they volunteered at area hospitals. The cops also gave the workers a police escort to the hospitals for their final shift.
Jason Anderson, a nurse practitioner from Orlando who requested the NYPD for the send-off, told WABC-TV he was moved by the show of appreciation.
“That’s what get us through our day, the NYPD, the FDNY, they’ve been great, seeing people in the high rises clapping, beating their pans together,” Anderson said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, New York City had 134,874 COVID-19 cases and 35,746 related hospitalizations, according to the city’s health department. There were 9,562 confirmed coronavirus related deaths and an additional 4,865 probable virus-related fatalities, according to the department.
Anderson talked about the high levels of stress that he and his fellow volunteers faced while treating COVID-19 patients in his letter to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. Anderson said the tribute would be fitting for all of the volunteers’ hard work and their appreciation for the city.
“We ‘Back The Blue,'” Anderson wrote in the letter, which was obtained by ABC News. “Will you ‘Back The Scrubs?’”
Shea agreed to the request.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” he said. “So many people across the country have reached out to us and helped us, it was a nice way to send them back home.”
The health care workers will return to their homes and be under quarantine following their final shifts.
