NORTHAMPTON — First responders are used to preparing for dangerous situations. Whether it’s a police officer walking the beat or a paramedic called for a medical emergency, expecting the unexpected is part of the job.
The rapidly growing global COVID-19 pandemic, however, adds an invisible hazard to these jobs. Not only are individual responders more at risk for catching the coronavirus due to the public nature of their work, it takes only one infected person to unknowingly transmit the disease and potentially cripple an entire department.
It’s for these reasons that local first responders, such as the Northampton Police Department as well as fire and police departments in Easthampton, are taking proactive measures to prevent infection so they can continue to provide the fast and fully staffed response that citizens expect, without interruption.
“We still respond to every call. Those services will never be reduced. Our No. 1 priority is this community,” said Officer Justin Hooten outside the Northampton Police Department headquarters Wednesday. “That’s never going to change.”
Hooten, who has worked for the department for 13 years, said there seems to be a reduction of call volume and arrests as people are apparently following social distancing recommendations.
And although Northampton officers still respond to every call, the way they handle certain calls has changed. Calls that aren’t life-threatening or an emergency, such as those from people reporting past events with no suspect on scene, will be handled over the phone to limit person-to-person contact. Officers have been asked to reduce community policing practices to slow the virus’s spread, Hooten said, and when they do interact with the public, officers will continue to practice social distancing.
Dispatchers are now screening calls for COVID-19 symptoms, Northampton Police Capt. Robert Powers said last week. Police Chief Jody Kasper said a week ago Friday that only ambulance personnel will respond to calls reporting non-life-threatening flu-like symptoms, but that police will still respond to higher-level calls reporting life-threatening situations.
If ambulance personnel have arrived before police in response to such calls, officers will not enter unless needed. Officers all have personal protective equipment and have their own fitted N95 masks for protection if someone is suspected to have COVID-19, Kasper said.
Officers conducting traffic stops will aim to have less interaction with registered drivers by using their computers to look up information instead of transferring physical paperwork, Kasper said. License to carry permits and fingerprinting also have stopped for the time being. The department’s lobby and community room are still open, Kasper said.
“They are pretty significant changes for our operations because we are a department that has a lot of face-to-face interactions,” Kasper said.
Internal protocol at the department has changed as well. Officers are consistently cleaning holding cells, high-contact areas around the station, their own patrol cars and their equipment. Trainings have been canceled, the department’s fitness room is closed, some meetings are now online and officers no longer group up for shift changes. Proper hygiene is also being promoted to prevent the spread of the virus — and if an officer is feeling sick, that person is asked to stay home, Powers said.
“I think we’re taking every precaution we can,” Hooten said.
According to Kasper, such precautionary measures are important in the department because any internal outbreak of the virus would mean police would have to either move higher-ranking officers such as detectives to patrol or rely on mutual-aid partners. As Hooten put it: “We’re vital; we’re needed.”
Sharaby Irizarry is in the middle of training to become a police officer in the city and is being instructed in the field by Hooten. She said that, in a way, the coronavirus crisis has helped her learn more about policing because it has slowed things down.
“It’s good to see things in a positive perspective in this type of environment right now,” Irizarry said. “The way things are going, if you let the negativity engulf you, you’ll see everything as negative.”
On the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19, Hooten said that as a police officer, “you’re nervous that you can get it — we all have families.” But ultimately, Hooten said, risk is part of the job, and he is taking extra precautions.
The Easthampton Police Department is adopting similar protocols. Among them: Officers are being asked to social distance when interacting with members of the public and with colleagues; areas in the station are being sanitized; trainings are suspended; license-to-carry issuance is suspended; and officers are only being dispatched to medicals calls for breathing problems if an ambulance is not available, according to Police Chief Robert Alberti. Officers with flu-like symptoms are being asked to not come into work, he said.
On Wednesday, Alberti said calls for service in the city had gone down, along with foot and vehicle traffic. Alberti believes it’s because people are listening to recommendations to stay inside as much as possible to mitigate the spread of the virus. On Friday, Alberti said city officials including Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, member of the Board of Health and others have been meeting about the pandemic every day.
“It’s important that the city officials meet regularly on and about this because it’s ever fluid and ever-changing,” Alberti said.
Kyle Pouliot, a firefighter and paramedic in Easthampton, said emergency medical services calls have changed. Instead of two paramedics entering a home when responding to medical calls, now one will stay 6 feet away and ask patients about flu-like symptoms or recent travel, while the other hangs back. If the calls don’t fall into this criteria, then the process continues as usual, he said.
If someone does have flu-like symptoms, one paramedic will back out to equip himself with full personal protective equipment before entering the home, while also placing a mask on the person who is ill. The second paramedic will wait outside. Pouliot said paramedics will only transport someone to the hospital if the person is exhibiting severe symptoms, such as shortness of breath. Otherwise, Pouliot said, he will instruct the individual to stay home and call their primary care provider for guidance.
“If you don’t need the second person, then you try not to get them involved and try to only work one-on-one with the patient so there’s less opportunity for exposure,” Pouliot said.
Pouliot said the city has received calls of people exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, but that “we can’t tell that’s what it is” without testing.
“If we do the screening process and become a little more proactive and a little stricter than what’s out there, we’re just giving our personnel that much more of a chance to reduce the risk to exposure,” said Easthampton Deputy Fire Chief Wayne Hennemann.
Hennemann said there haven’t been any changes in staffing at the fire department but echoed other leaders in law enforcement in emphasizing how critical to public safety it is to keep their staff healthy. He said the department might have to rely on mutual aid if staff does get sick, but added this could siphon off resources to other cities and towns. The COVID-19 protocol at the fire department, Hennemann said, changes every day.
“It’s not like we can turn the sign on the door that says ‘Sorry, closed,’” Hennemann said. “The population is still expecting us to respond to emergency calls. So, it may be a little dicey as time goes on. We don’t know.”
Hennemann also expressed concern regarding the global supply shortage of personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks and gowns, which he said are also running low at the fire department. Their shortage hasn’t affected their operations yet, but equipment “could be drained fast,” Pouliot said. Requests are in for more equipment, he said.
“In a matter of days, it could really, really wipe us out,” Hennemann said.
And even if there’s increased production of such equipment, Hennemann said it could still take awhile for gear to be distributed. In the meantime, Hennemann urged people to stay inside, unless they absolutely have to go out, and to seek information about the novel coronavirus on the state website.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.