Public Safety officials say crews exposed to coronavirus doing fine, as is city’s supplies cache
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Seven Pittsburgh firefighters who are self-quarantining after working with a colleague who tested positive for the coronavirus are doing well and so far do not have the virus, Public Safety officials said Friday.
On top of that, one police officer and two EMS employees are also self-quarantining after possible exposures to covid-19, according to Director Wendell Hissrich. He said the firefighter who tested positive is doing well.
His two weeks of isolation began March 26, the day he was exposed to the virus.
The update came during a news conference held outdoors Friday on the North Shore.
All Public Safety employees are being screened for symptoms and having their temperature taken every shift, Hissrich said, and those with symptoms or a fever are being sent home. Once they go through 72 hours without symptoms, they can return to work.
He said anywhere from 30 to 50 employees are home on any given day because of symptoms.
“Fortunately, no other employees within Public Safety have tested positive,” Hissrich said.
The department continues to modify its procedures as the virus spreads and more data becomes available. Assistant EMS Chief Mark Pinchalk said there are two specialty infection-control units that are responding to high-risk calls, and those units also decontaminate other ambulances after transports.
“We have a long way to go before we punch through the peak of the curve and get on the down slope of this,” Pinchalk said. “If we follow the science on this, we’ll be safe and get through this.”
In terms of personal protective equipment, Hissrich said first responders in the city are OK for now. He said the department has requested additional supplies, but so has every other county in the state, and state in the country, so “supply has been limited.
“Fortunately,” he said, “we had a very good stockpile before this.”
He said the department is ordering additional equipment for firefighters, and police and paramedics have approval to modify equipment that would be used for weapons of mass destruction to use as PPE against the virus.
“Right now, for the next few weeks, I feel we’re in good shape,” Hissrich said. “If it does extend beyond that, we may have some serious problems.”