What if emergency responders get coronavirus? Lancaster County asks SC for more details
Darren Player said he believes Lancaster County folks are doing everything they can with the coronavirus information they have. His department, the emergency management director said, just needs more.
Player updated Lancaster County Council on plans and response to COVID-19 when the group met Monday night. Confirmed cases in the county sat at seven, then.
“The fact that our cases have not exponentially climbed I think is testament to the fact that the citizens of Lancaster County took serious the warnings we put out several weeks ago,” Player said.
Yet a major point of contention the past week is the limited information coming from the state.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control daily updates the number of positive COVID-19 cases by county. Patient confidentiality laws don’t allow identification at a more local level, Player said.
Player said he and other county officials have been in contact with state legislators on the issue.
Player said he believes public notification by zip code would work, but he would like to see individual addresses of positive coronavirus cases listed with emergency response. Only top level county officials would know the address, he said, until a call for service came from it, at which point responders would be notified.
Player said the existing health department consent form orders anyone who tests positive and self-quarantines at home to inform emergency dispatch when there’s a call for service.
“Well that’s predicated on somebody having the presence of mind to do that in a medical emergency,” Player said. “Sometimes people are not rational when they have a medical emergency. We’re concerned that we won’t get that information and that the paramedics can be put in peril, as well as the firefighters.”
If emergency responders are exposed, they could carry the virus to other parts of the county, or be unavailable to run calls at all, he said.
“It wouldn’t take very many positives and us having to quarantine our own people for 14 days or more, to we wouldn’t have any crews or firefighters or anybody else to respond to calls in this county,” Player said.
Player said he understands the need to balance patient privacy.
He said it’s important to remember that there’s a family tied up with each positive case. Those patients are working through something they haven’t faced before just like emergency response, Player said, with pandemic conditions perhaps unseen since the Spanish flu a century ago.
“Nobody really living with any memory has been through what we’re going through right now,” he said.
Cases to increase
Player said he believes county residents have done well to limit cases, given their location. One of the counties with the most confirmed cases in South Carolina, Kershaw County, sits immediately south. One of the counties with the most confirmed cases in North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, sits immediately north.
Mecklenburg County does list the number of confirmed cases by zip code.
“One of the zip codes there that has the highest number of cases in Mecklenburg County is the Ballantyne area, which immediately is just north of our county boundary,” Player said.
Even as Lancaster County residents have been diligent, Player said, there were two cases each confirmed Sunday and Monday. As private labs start testing there will be lag time on some tests before DHEC is notified. DHEC then informs county management and emergency response.
“There may be disparity in the number of cases coming out in the next few days,” Player said.
A series of conference calls in the past week gives Player estimates on how long this influx of coronavirus cases might last.
“We’re looking at least probably June, July, maybe August before we see maybe the other side of the crest,” he said. “And that’s still a good guess.”
Aggressive testing started only a week ago. It’s still early to determine how far out the trajectory is, Player said.
“We expect a spike in numbers to still come,” he said.
Supplies and responders
Player said county residents shouldn’t give in to rumors, such as that martial law is on the way, with increased presence from the National Guard.
“There’s no truth to that,” he said.
On Friday units began distribution of medical supplies to counties from the strategic national stockpile that began in 2007. Items like surgical masks, gowns and face shields have been in short supply nationally as coronavirus spreads. Even hospital workers have had trouble finding needed supplies.
At the county level, medical supplies for EMS, fire and law enforcement are needed too.
“There is still a need for M95 masks,” Player said. “When agencies in the county have exhausted all of their abilities from their normal vendors to purchase supplies, they’ve been instructed to send a request to me.”
Player said he can put in a request to the state, which is reviewed and tracked. Up to this point the county hasn’t had to pay for emergency supplies it received.
On Monday Player took masks to Lancaster police. He’d already sent some to the fire department there. Last week he sent out masks to fire departments countywide. He also gives out instructions to keep the available supply viable for as long as possible.
“They shouldn’t be worn just on the basis of putting on a mask that morning for your duty,” Player said of firefighter masks. “There should be a need and a patient that you’re dealing with or some kind of circumstance that you’re dealing with that makes you think you need that mask. We only have a limited supply of those.”
County leaders also came up with a plan to send fire departments only to EMS calls where someone is unconscious or under cardiac arrest, but also give paramedics the ability to ask for firefighter assistance when needed.
“If the paramedics go into a situation and know that they have the risk of a COVID patient, they will then direct the firefighters that have come as to who and how many need to come in and have direct patient contact,” Player said.
Typically firefighters would respond to EMS calls just in case, Player said, but with so many concerns about close personal contact, his department wants to be mindful when and where it sends personnel.
“We’ve taken out the just in case,” Player said.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 11:33 AM.
