Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said the city is working with state officials on a system to notify public safety employees if they come into contact with someone testing positive for covid-19.
City officials, including Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, last week said city firefighters, paramedics and police were not being notified of potential contact with infected people. They described the situation as a public health risk, saying personnel could be exposed to the disease while on the job without knowledge and spread it to family members and the public.
“We hope to have an agreement with the governor that will allow our public safety personnel to be notified if they come in contact,” the mayor said, adding that the public safety department department is critically important during the pandemic. “Public safety is the primary duty of local government and during a crisis it remains paramount that there are continuous operations.”
He said Dr. Ronald Roth, the city’s medical director, would receive notification and then contact the appropriate public safety bureau.
State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine confirmed that discussions were ongoing.
“We’re in discussions with the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to try to provide the information to protect our excellent first responders like (Emergency Medical Services), the police and fire departments,” she said.
Peduto said the city is lining up local hotels to house first responders if they receive a notification. The mayor said employees would have an option to stay in the hotel, rather than home with family, until they receive results of a test and afterward if they test positive and need to be quarantined.
Ralph Sicuro, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 1, who first raised the issue, said he hopes the state and city soon resolve the issue.
“This has been going ‘round and ‘round,” Sicuro said. “If this is true and the state will notify the (city) then that is good news, not only for our men and women who are out there every day, but for the citizens, so that we can take steps to help reduce the risk to them.”
