ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - This weekend a paramedic and a Captain with the Kansas City, MO Fire Department passed away, becoming the second and third members of the department to die of COVID-19. So far, members of the St. Louis Fire Department have escaped the same fate, thanks to getting an early start and taking strenuous precautions.
Chief Dennis Jenkerson says the department started the protocols in early March, after he heard about the virus while in Italy last fall. He says in addition to the masks, gloves and hand washing, they've been fogging their stations and cleaning equipment with disinfectant after every suspected COVID call.
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"We're probably looking two, three, four times a day," he says. "Something as simple as wiping off all the handles on the truck, all the door knobs on the fire house. Fogging the entire firehouse. Fogging the kitchen, because our members live together for 24 hours."
Jenkerson says while his department's caseload peaked after Halloween, when as many as 40 members tested positive and over 50 were quarantined, only two have been hospitalized, and that was in late March and early May.
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However, he says overtime to cover absences has driven costs for the city through the roof.
"It's done on a daily basis," he says of scheduling overtime, "but it's also done daily projecting two, three, four days out. It's a lot of work and sometimes in the middle of the day we'll have someone say, 'oh, I don't feel good' so we'll send them home and call someone for overtime in the middle of the day."
After seeing what happened after Halloween, Jenkerson is worried about what's to come after Thanksgiving.
"It's hard to mandate staying away from family and friends over the holidays. Just pay attention. Use the disinfectant on the hands. Wear the mask. Do the simple things which is going to give you an advantage over this disease."
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