The president of Claymont Fire Co. reports that a large number of first responders are off the job after the two families of coronavirus victims did not disclose the patients’ status to first responders.
The Christiana Fire Co., the state’s largest, reported similar problems in a recent Facebook post, but did not mention quarantining.
Tom DiCristofaro wrote in a Facebook note that Claymont crews were dispatched to at least two known ambulance calls where the sick person was COVID-19 positive. He said extra precautions are taken if the patient is known to have tested positive.
In all, 15 public safety workers are off the job and in isolation from the first call – five firefighters, three EMTs, four County Police officers, and three county paramedics.
The most recent call led to four firefighters being in quarantine when they went to assist EMTs with lifting the patient.
“This certainly could have been prevented if only the information was communicated to the ambulance crew. This loss hits us hard as volunteers are harder to come by these days, and ultimately hurts the response to our community,” DiCristofaro wrote.