NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York City's EMS crews were stretched thin on Christmas Day, in part due to their own COVID infections, as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to spread and drive a spike in emergency calls.
An FDNY spokesperson said that around 19% of the city's more than 4,000 EMS workers were out sick on Christmas Day, Saturday, a jump from the usual 5% shortage.
The increased shortage came as New York City faced nearly 15,000 new cases and around 300 new hospitalizations on Sunday, days after a warning by the New York's health department of a “startling” increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations among children — with recent increases in New York City.
The spokesperson noted that the FDNY over the weekend had about 4,500 ambulance calls per day, up about 10% from previous years.
Anthony Alomojera, vice president of Local 3621 — the FDNY's EMS union — said the need for ambulances, especially on Christmas Day, is not for "people falling down and breaking their legs."
"It's COVID-related," he added.
With a need for more EMS workers, the FDNY removed paused personal leave, training classes and removed it's cap on overtime Friday, allowing crews to work of up to 18 hours, according to a department memo obtained by The New York Daily News.
Alomojera called a potential burnout by overworked crews "the perfect storm."
"You have pandemic burnout and an incredibly young workforce, a majority have less than five years on the job," he added. "The EMTs and medics are doing a good work, but the job has been run into the ground by the city."
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