BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston EMTs are responding to all calls — not just coronavirus-related symptoms — covered head-to-toe in order to avoid spreading the virus.
“It is better off for us to go in with the assumption everyone’s got it until proven otherwise,” said EMT Chief James Hooley.
That means EMTs responding while in gowns, hairnets, booties, gloves, masks and face shields. Boston EMS Union President Michael MacNeil said 100 percent of his workers are nervous about their own health and safety when responding to 200 calls a day, and dozens have already been sick.
“We’ve had upwards of 50 members either sick or quarantined since the beginning of this,” MacNeil said.
And while EMTs have about 10 weeks of masks, Hooley said they’re running low on gowns.
“Currently right now gowns are the one item are really in short supply,” Hooley said. “We’re probably going through about a thousand gowns a week.”
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