A Dallas police officer stationed at the Northeast Division is back on the job after recovering from COVID-19. She tested positive for the virus in March.
“I’m grateful, It feels really good to be back," said Sr. Cpl. Allison Brockford, who started to experience symptoms on St. Patrick's Day.
"I had done a stress test for my heart and started developing a cough afterward, which isn't that unusual for me because I do have asthma, so I thought it was an asthma induced reaction," Brockford said.
She said later on that day, her eyes became itchy and she thought it was allergies.
"Then in the evening time, I started getting body aches pretty bad and that's when I knew that something was up," Brockford said.
But the symptoms didn't stop, and later she developed a bad headache. Brockford saw her doctor the next day, got tested for COVID-19 and on March 25 received her results. It was positive.
“When I got the results the next morning, I immediately self-quarantined away from my family, I talked to my supervisors, they already knew I had the test, so I let them know what the results were and spent the next couple of weeks in my bedroom," Brockford said.
Even though she was alone her room, Brockford said she wasn't lonely thanks to her family, friends and brothers and sisters in blue.
"They were passing notes to me underneath the door, they were making food for me in front of the door and on occasion, I was able to get outside in the backyard and I would be on one side of the pool and they would be on the other," Brockford said.
As to where she picked up the virus, she said she has no idea and said she spoke with an epidemiologist and a doctor with the Dallas Police Department.
“They had asked where I had been and they contacted everybody where I had been the day I developed symptoms. But honestly, between the really long incubation period there’s no telling if I got it one day later for 14 days later and so many people don’t even know symptoms," Brockford said. "I think it would be difficult to know exactly where I got it."
DPD said 11 people, nine officers and two civilians, have tested positive for COVID-19 within the department. Currently, 20 people are quarantined and 105 who were quarantined are able to return to work.
"It's real important to keep the virus from spreading, so please, if you're not feeling well, don't go to the store, if you're an essential worker and not feeling well, please stay at home," Brockford said.
