Breaking News | Coronavirus NYC: 36% of firefighters and ambulances found infected

More than one-third New York City Firefighters and FDNY’s first responders are likely to have been caught Coronavirus The height of the city’s pandemic grip reveals new research.

New York University (NYU) scientists evaluated data on almost all front-line workers at the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and found that most were positive or showed overt symptoms of COVID-19. I found that.

The infection rate of the first responders at the fire department was about 15 times higher than the coronavirus rate of the general population in the city, even at the global epicenter of the pandemic.

COVID-19 can also have a high risk of fatal effects on firefighters, whose lungs are often already damaged by smoke damage.

During the two-month or longer blockade in New York City, the normally busy streets were eerily empty and quiet, with the exception of red and blue flashes and siren screams from ambulances and fire trucks.

Nationwide, most of the calls that fire departments respond to are for emergency medical care, not for fire.

All firefighters must be certified paramedics (EMTs) to be able to perform CPR and provide first aid at the scene of the fire.

However, there is often a 60-70% chance that these skills will be used in responding to non-fire emergencies.

In many cases, there are more fire stations in a particular area than there are hospitals and ambulances that can be dispatched.

As a result, it is not uncommon for firefighters to be the first at the scene of a heart attack or car accident.

And during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in New York City, hospitals and healthcare professionals had reached their limits.

It’s all done by hand, with dermatologists suddenly taking care of infectious disease patients, nurses and doctors staffing at the Javits Center, flooding patients and fire department workers, and calling for people with dyspnea. I responded.

The firefighters and women were repeatedly exposed daily to New Yorkers infected with COVID-19 to the point of needing emergency assistance.

In fact, it was fire department data that warned New York City officials that COVID-19 was likely to die and was fairly rare.

Approximately 15,000 frontline workers were hired by the FDNY at the beginning of March, when coronavirus cases began to occur in the city.

To determine the number of infected people, NYU researchers collected data on 14,290 front-line FDNY workers.

Between the beginning of March and the end of May, 1,569 firefighters and EMTs using the FDNY were COVID-19 positive.

Another 3,453 people have not been tested, but have had symptoms that are suspicious cases.

And 63 men and women in the FDNY were hospitalized for the coronavirus. Four of them died.

In total, 5,175 firefighters and emergency medical personnel (more than 36%) may have been infected with the coronavirus.

This is more than 15 times higher than found in the general population of New York City. Medical personnel were also more likely to catch the coronavirus than firefighters.

“Our study highlights the high risk of COVID-19 infection in FDNY responders in response to a surge in pandemic-related emergency calls,” said Dr. David Prezant, FDNY Chief Medical Officer. ..

“All staff follow the same PPE protocol, but emergency health care workers are more exposed to COVID-19 than firefighters, for example, while taking patients to hospitals and providing treatment to help breathe. It may have been. “

However, FDNY’s first responders were less likely to become ill or die of COVID-19 than other infected New Yorkers.

Firefighters and paramedics tend to be younger and fit better than people in other professions, and may be more resilient to infections such as COVID-19.

The exception was those who had already had reduced lung function due to either exposure to smoke or smoking.

Firefighters regularly test lung function, and scientists are at risk of severe COVID-19 for every 100 mL less air that can be exhaled in a single breath. We found an increase of 71%.

“These findings highlight the importance of protecting paramedics from countries around the world and maintaining their capabilities in the event of a subsequent pandemic wave,” said Dr. Pleasant.

“This means proper use of PPE, but it also guarantees that emergency personnel will be vaccinated against influenza and, if available, COVID-19.”