COVID-19: Resources to Keep you Safe and Informed

"Incidents with patients that have a legitimate concern of possible infection, now requires our personnel to contact our regional advisory council network that will place key persons (EMS leadership, Medical Direction, Regional Trauma Advisory Council leadership, and San Antonio Metropolitan Health District immunologists) on a conference call to evaluate the risk level, patient care, transport decisions and destinations for transport," Hood added.

Besides treating patients, Hood said he also concerns for firefighters and paramedics during this pandemic. However, the department is preparing for an eventuality that could involve multiple members becoming infected or being quarantined after being exposed to the coronavirus.

"Another concern is what happens if I have to shut stations down due to illness or self-quarantine?" he said. "We have examined and updated our Continuity of Operations plans to safely staff and deliver service with a loss of 10, 30 and 50 percent of our staff."

"I have been in this business for a long time," Hood added. "I have witnessed, HIV, H1N1, SARS and Ebola, never in my career have I seen a virus spread so rapidly. I have been blessed to deploy to some of the largest incidents in this nation’s history, never have I seen the amount of planning that has taken place over the past six weeks in preparation for what will be an unknown response with no true data. It’s very concerning."

And Hood's shock at the rapid global spread of COVID-19.

"Throughout my career, I have seen emerging diseases and flu outbreak," Champaign, IL, Fire Chief Gary Ludwig, who has spent more than 40 years in the fire service, told Firehouse.com. "This has taken higher precedence. I find it ironic that the CDC's website lists an estimated 20,000 to 52,000 deaths from flu in the United States between October 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020. At its highest, that is approximately 350 deaths a day. There is no news coverage of these deaths. No matter what the strain of flu, we should always take precautions to protect our firefighters, EMS personnel, and first responders."

Given the virulent nature of the virus and the current lack of large-scale testing and a vaccine, departments have adapted their policies and protocols to reflect this new—and hopefully temporary— normal. For Ludwig's Champaign department, the emphasis has been on taking proper personal protective equipment precautions on calls when responders aren't sure if a patient has the virus.

Other modifications include:

"If you go on a suspected call, use appropriate exposure guidelines," Ludwig wrote in an email update to his department. "It is recommended that one person go to the door if possible while the others stay back. If possible, have the patient come outside and try to stay 6 feet away from the patient during triage. If coughing is an issue, place a mask or NR on the patient ASAP to prevent droplet contamination. We will treat all patients as always but please use good PPE practices, good hygiene after a call, and minimize contact if at all possible.

"If a medic unit goes on scene first, stay back unless you are needed. The goal is to decrease exposure risk. The goal will also be to try and stretch our PPE supply. If only one person is using PPE on a call, while the others are back 6 to 10 feet, that’s OK. Most importantly, protect yourselves and treat the patient as needed."

Ludwig also stressed proper decontamination of all gear and equipment "as you would any other call with an exposure." The department purchased two new electromagnetic sprayers to help with that.

Serving the community at the University of Illinois brings additional considerations for Ludwig's department and his personnel.

"We have been on notice since late December since we have over 5,000 students taking classes at our university," Ludwig said. "The University of Illinois has been diligent with monitoring students who might have traveled overseas or returned after the Christmas holidays from Asia. It has only been as of late that we went to higher phases as cases ramped up in the United States."

Of course, Champaign isn't alone when it comes to adopting new tactics in dealing with this pandemic. The International Association of Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs have both created "tool kits" for first responders on how to handle coronavirus calls. Their recommendations, which can be found online, are being updated as more is learned about the virus, with the IAFF even holding a national health briefing for its members early this week.

Here's a look at what other cities across the country are doing to stem the spread of coronavirus.

FDNY

New York City firefighters are no longer being sent on medical emergencies involving patients with symptoms connected to the virus. Paramedics and EMS members will still answer calls concerning asthma attacks, coughs and breathing issues, but they won't be accompanied by structural firefighters.

The decision has been largely criticized by the city's EMS union officials, who have recently been seeking pay equity within the department.

"It is not the first time EMS has acted as the canary in the coal mine to protect the public, and it won’t be the last. It’s important now more than ever for the Mayor to acknowledge the work we do," Oren Barzilay, president of the union representing New York City EMS personnel, told the New York Daily News.

But the department has defended the move as a way to prioritize city resources.

“Firefighters continue to respond to the highest priority medical calls, whether they are potential COVID-19 calls or not, including all segment 1 incidents, cardiac and respiratory arrests, choking, and trauma incidents,” an FDNY spokesman told the Daily News.

“On every call type, additional fire and EMS resources can be dispatched as needed,” he added.

Cleveland

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have activated their emergency operations center and joint information center to help coordinate the coronavirus response throughout the area. The center is brought online for big emergencies, and it includes city, county and state emergency management offices, as well as fire and police representatives.

The center helps spread information about the virus to both first responders and the public, and it monitors emergency supplies throughout the area, making sure communities have enough masks, disinfectants and other items. Ultimately, it's tasked with “making sure everybody’s on the same page so we can make sure proper guidance and information is flowing correctly,” Cuyahoga County Public Safety Director Alex Pellom told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Los Angeles County

Since the coronavirus outbreak has reached crisis levels, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been holding conference calls three times a week with emergency officials in the county to provide updates.

Like the Champaign Fire Department, Los Angeles County firefighters are putting a new emphasis on PPE when responding to calls with potentially infected patients.

"For the majority of the incidents that we respond to, we wear latex gloves that protect us and the patient," Sean Ferguson, an inspector with the department, told KABC-TV. "However, based on a line of questioning that the dispatcher receives or through our assessment of the patient on scene, we may ramp up the level of personal protective equipment that we do wear."

Departments in the county, such as the San Marino Fire Department, are making sure they're stocked up on special disaster kits, which include gowns, safety glasses, disinfecting towelettes, biohazard bags and respirator masks, the San Marino Times reports. Dispatchers also are screening calls so that firefighters will better know if they're responding to a call potentially involving a coronavirus patient and will need those kits.

Sacramento, CA