Positive COVID-19 Tests Force 87 FL Firefighters to Quarantine

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More than two dozen Orlando Fire Department firefighters tested positive this week for COVID-19, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday.

In total, 87 firefighters are under a mandatory 14-day quarantine, many “out of an abundance of caution,” and 28 have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, OFD spokeswoman Ashley Papagni said in an email.

So far, 110 tests have been administered this week, she said.

Among those quarantined are 32 new recruits, who are not counted as part of the agency’s 530 total firefighters.

Papagni said the Health and Safety Division is conducting contact tracing, “making exposure notifications to all individuals and providing tests to all those who are symptomatic or had a direct exposure.”

She said anyone tested will receive a follow-up test in one week.

It’s unclear exactly how or when the firefighters may have been exposed to the virus. Papagni said there are positive cases among the agency’s training division, but “there are also positive cases in which individuals had no interaction with the training division or possible exposure sites,” she said.

Last month, the entire agency was tested and not one yielded a positive result, she said.

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