How First Responders Deal with COVID-19

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STONE HARBOR – As the number of COVID-19 cases grows rapidly in New Jersey, first responders have to alter normal routines to add extra layers of protective protocols to their response. 
In Stone Harbor, Borough Emergency Management Director J.T. Lakose, Police Chief Thomas Schutta and Fire Chief Roger Stanford used the March 17 work session of the borough council to brief the governing body on the changes.
Change to Police Routine
Police routine began to change March 3 and has evolved in line with the most recent information arriving daily from the state. Schutta said that there is a daily morning briefing with the State Police, as well as a regular flow of information from public health departments at the state and county levels.
Medical calls, for which police officers may be dispatched, require officers to use personal protective equipment (PPE) for both emergency and non-emergency situations.
If the circumstances involve a medical emergency, such as cardiac arrest, police will intervene per normal but will leave the scene, unless specifically required once emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrive.
In non-emergency calls, officers have been instructed to make contact with the caller from a distance of six feet and remain at a distance monitoring the caller until medical personnel arrive, at which time the officers are to leave the scene.
General Calls
With regard to general calls for service, police will only respond if there is a crime in progress or if the situation calls for on-scene investigation or collection of evidence. For less serious issues, Schutta used the example of a theft that has already occurred; police will take the information over the phone and not physically respond.
Assignment schedules have also been altered to maintain the same squad personnel in the same vehicles throughout the virus crisis. 
Using the full complement of police vehicles, Schutta said it is possible to have no more than two individuals share a single-vehicle.  
Protocols will require sanitizing the vehicle at the start and end of every shift.
Schutta said that social distancing is being used in the station house, and that modified command officer schedules are in place, so that he and Capt. Christopher Palmer are not co-located.
One of the goals of all of the changes to first responder protocols is not losing needed personnel through inadvertent exposure to the virus, which would take the responders “out of service.”
Officers have been told not to report for duty if they are sick and to practice appropriate hygiene protocols.
Changes to Fire and EMT Routine
Fire Chief Roger Stanford spoke first about EMT personnel who “have no choice but to be on the front line.” Stanford has issued new policy guidance limiting the firehouse to two on-duty EMTs who practice social distancing from each other.
EMTs respond to calls with appropriate PPE including masks. They receive daily updating on protocols from the medical director who handles an array of EMS squads in the state.  
As evidence of what the protocols are aimed at avoiding, Stanford said the EMS coordinator for the county is currently quarantined along with his wife.
Stanford noted that most EMS personnel work in multiple jurisdictions in the county, complicating the practices of keeping potentially exposed personnel from spreading that exposure.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that we could lose people,” having them go out of service due to exposure.
No More Hang Out
Firefighters will no longer be allowed to use the firehouse as a social gathering place. 
Firefighters will also respond from home. Only two EMTs will be on duty at the firehouse.
Stanford said that calls will be responded to by one person who will determine if a crew needs to be called out. He cited a situation in New York, where 1,000 firefighters were pulled from service due to exposure.
All drills and training exercises have been canceled.
Responding to a question from Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour, Stanford said county dispatchers have instituted a series of questions they ask of callers to help to determine the risk of exposure on any request for service.
Even if the caller states they have no symptoms, Fire Department personnel will respond to a call where possible by first questioning the caller from a distance of six feet.
Privacy Law
Stanford said that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Law (HIPPA) prevents first responders from having access to any information that might tell them that a caller has been quarantined due to exposure to the coronavirus.  
The privacy law set up to protect individuals may now limit the information available to first responders in a national health emergency. 
According to Stanford, no database is available to his responders which would list individuals under quarantine. 
According to the National Law Review, regulators are working on ways to disseminate what they term as “protective health information” to support public health response outbreaks like COVID-19.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.