A San Francisco police officer has died of Covid after being placed on leave because he had not gotten vaccinated.
Officer Jack Nyce, who had worked for the department for 17 years, passed away on Saturday just days after testing positive for Covid, according to his wife Melissa Nyce.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance when his symptoms became severe and died later that day, reported the San Franciso Chronicle.
Ms Nyce did not say whether her husband was vaccinated but a San Francisco Police Officers Association official confirmed he had been placed on paid administrative leave at the time of his death because he had not received the vaccination required by the city mandate.
There has been significant push-back against the requirement for government employees to get vaccinated. In September, nearly 200 San Francisco Police Department staff had applied for religious exemption, the highest number of any city department.
The SFPD said 70 workers had been placed on leave for not meeting the 1 November vaccination deadline, with 97.5 per cent of department employees fully vaccinated by 2 November.
Officers who have still not complied with the city’s vaccine mandate by 13 November will be moved to unpaid administrative leave, until the Police Commission convenes a hearing.
Melissa Nyce told the San Francisco Chronicle her husband had “loved being a cop”. She said she had not taken a Covid test but was quarantining and had not experienced any symptoms.
In an email sent to the police department, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott praised Mr Nyce’s work over the course of his career, calling him a “widely respected colleague”.
