Two of the city’s front-line first responders, a cop and an an EMS worker, tested positive for coronoavirus, city officials announced Sunday.
The infections come as local leaders across the country scramble to keep first responders safe amid a growing shortage of personal protective equipment.
Department officials were notified late Saturday that a male member of the Boston Police force tested positive for COVID-19, Sgt. John Boyle said.
“The health and safety of our employees is our No. 1 priority,” Boyle said, noting the department has done a “thorough” cleaning of the precinct in which the officer worked. Boyle declined to say where the officer worked.
It’s unclear whether other officers were exposed. Boyle said the department is following protocols to trace exposure to the virus.
A Boston Public Health Commission spokeswoman said a city EMS worker has also tested positive for COVID-19 and is “doing well and recovering at home.”
As of Sunday, there were 116 confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 among Boston residents. So far, 13 of those residents have fully recovered, according to the Boston Public Health Commission.
There are 646 cases statewide, according to the state Department of Public Health. Five people have died.
The officer’s diagnosis comes amid growing concerns of exposure by healthcare workers and first responders, who are viewed as being on the front lines of the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Boyle said Boston Police are following CDC guidelines to reduce officers’ risk of transmission. Personal protective equipment, sometimes called “PPE,” is available, he said.
The Boston Public Health Commission spokeswoman said it has longstanding infection protocols in place and are screening 911 callers for the new coronavirus. All Boston EMS ambulances are equipped with necessary PPEs and sanitizing solutions, she said.
Gov. Charlie Baker said Sunday the state has been “chasing PPEs as hard as we can.”
“We have orders in all across the country and frankly around the world,” Baker said
The World Health Organization earlier this month warned that severe and mounting disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment caused by rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse would put the lives of health-care workers and first responders at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases.
In a press conference at the White House on Sunday, President Trump said additional equipment was being sent to healthcare workers and first responders in California and New York — two of the nation’s hardest-hit states so far.
Trump said “millions” of additional N95 masks — which the federal government recently approved in an emergency response measure for medical use — were being produced at a manufacturing plant in Rhode Island.
