WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Twenty-seven Worcester firefighters are in quarantine and will be tested after three city firefighters tested positive for coronavirus, officials confirmed.
The firefighters who tested positive for COVID-19 are currently in isolation.
As a precautionary measure, 27 other firefighters who had potential contact with the positive case have been quarantined and will remain in quarantine pending a negative test. Those firefighters will be tested this week.
“While losing 30 firefighters from active roster is impactful it is not in any way impacting our ability to cover the city with the full complement of firefighters,”City Manager Edward Augustus said. “We’re a department of almost 400 firefighters.”
Contact tracing is underway through the Worcester Division of Public Health and a thorough cleaning was done at the station where the firefighter works.
Though they are not the only department being impacted by the pandemic. The Attleboro Fire Department has also seen an increase in cases.
This past weekend the firefighters union announced 10 firefighters and two dispatchers had tested positive. One of those firefighters was hospitalized at one point but has since been able to return home.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)