A dozen Huntington Beach police officers and employees have contracted COVID-19

Eleven Huntington Beach Police Department officers and one civilian employee have tested positive for COVID-19 while 25 more workers have been quarantined for exposure to the virus since late June, straining the agency’s operations, Police Chief Robert Handy said.

“It’s been hard,” he said Saturday. “We have had to do a lot of backfilling by paying overtime and ordering people into work on their days off.”

Of those employees infected or quarantined, all but two have returned to work.

He said a Huntington Beach officer may have contracted COVID-19 after spending a long weekend at a local hotel with his wife, accompanied by two other officers and their spouses. Soon after, several other officers within the department also tested positive for the virus.

Another officer came down with COVID-19 after a struggle with a criminal suspect, and then may have unwittingly passed the virus on to another officer, Handy said.

“When an officer is struggling on the ground everyone is breathing on each other,” he said. “It’s not possible to social distance.”

Some of the officers who were infected dropped pounds and temporarily lost their sense of smell and taste but none were hospitalized.

Thirty-six employees throughout all city departments have contracted COVID-19, according to Handy.

Although police officers are required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing, that isn’t always possible, Handy said. “We are doing the best we can with the job we have to do but with masks it does put a limitation on you,” he added. “Masks can particularly hinder an officer’s communications by radio.”

Huntington Beach has become ground zero for Southern California protests against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 measures and has also seen demonstrations against law enforcement as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Many protestors, often numbering in the thousands, have refused to wear protective masks.

“We are being caught in the middle of so many issues,”  he said. “It’s demoralizing to the officers.”

Handy had terse words for more than 300 people who gathered Friday night on the sand at Huntington Beach revival meeting called Saturate OC despite having failed to obtain city permits or follow state and county coronavirus health mandates. Many in the crowd did not wear masks or practice social distancing.

“Everyone in a large group like that not wearing masks puts cops and lifeguards at risk”,” Handy said.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department lost its first sworn officer to the coronavirus.

Officer Valentin “Val” Martinez, 45, died from complications tied to COVID-19, department and union officials said. LAPD officials did not say how the officer might have become exposed to the virus.