In the case of a COVID-19 outbreak in Bethel, residents will still need access to public safety, emergency responders, and potable water. City officials explained how they are making sure these positions are well-staffed, and how the services would keep running even if personnel get sick. A number of Bethel police officers work a two-week-on, two-week-off schedule. Oftentimes, those officers leave Bethel and travel out of state during their time off. Acting City Manager Bill Howell said that for the time being, those officers are staying put in Bethel. "All these traveling police officers have agreed to stay past their two-week shift," Howell said. Acting Bethel Police Chief Amy Davis says that staffing levels have never looked better. "We have more officers in town than we ever have, really," Davis said.  

At least 5,000 firefighters across the U.S. are under quarantine because of the coronavirus, an official with the International Association of Fire Fighters union told Hill.TV on Monday. Jim Brinkley, the union's assistant to general president of technical assistance, said on Hill.TV's "Rising" that the number is likely higher due to "severe underreporting." Brinkley said only 500 of the 3,400 fire departments in the union are reporting coronavirus numbers to the union. Among those 500 departments, 5,000 firefighters are in quarantine, 3,000 are in isolation and 700 have tested positive for the coronavirus, Brinkley said. "This is not something that's just isolated to one area. I think the news has been really focused on what's happening in New York and New Jersey and that's tragic ... but we're nearly 90 days into this," he said.  

The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a tracking tool that shows which fire departments have reported exposure to COVID-19 or have had employees test positive with the virus. Firefighters respond to patients who could be infected with coronavirus every day. "The same way we do going into a fire while people are running out of it, we are running into people's homes who may have contracted coronavirus," said Tom Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association. Malone reports 12 Memphis firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. Nearly 200 others have had to be quarantined or isolated after being exposed to family, friends or other firefighters who had the virus. Malone said no firefighters tested positive after patient contact. According to Malone, the Department is still fully staffed.  

An innovative way of spray sanitizing is being put to good use by local emergency departments and Lawrence County Housing Authority apartment units during the coronavirus epidemic. They have the Shenango Area Fire District and the New Castle Fire Department to thank for the extra layers of protection, using the devices they built that are being used to disinfect surroundings. The idea came to assistant Shenango chief Brandon Rishel, who saw on the television news that another fire department in the Pittsburgh area had retrofitted paint sprayers into disinfectant sprayers. "Another fire department was using one, and I copied their idea," Rishel said. The two departments bought some paint sprayers, got the air chucks out of their used and expired department air packs and assembled them. To date, they have made about 20 of the sprayers. Rishel made at least eight of them.  

City governments are facing a difficult reality right now as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a revenue shortfall. In Tukwila, wage cuts are being considered. According to Rachel Bianchi, Tukwila's Deputy City Administrator, no decisions about wage reductions have been made yet. However, the firefighters union said they have already seen reduced staffing levels and they call it unacceptable. Lois Keller knows about the stresses that have been piling up because her husband, Levi, is a Tukwila firefighter. "They've been doing this job for years with a certain amount of staffing and now they got to figure out how to do their job in a pandemic with more asked of them, with less people," said Keller. "My husband still goes to work so we're still on that same schedule. I'm still at home with the kids," she added. What is different is spelled out in a five-page memo.  

A coalition of unions representing healthcare workers and first responders is calling on the D.C. government to take a more aggressive approach on coronavirus testing. The organizations fear doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers will be unable to treat patients if too many of them get sick. The organizations, which include the D.C. Nurses Association (DCNA), D.C. Firefighters Association, D.C. Police Union and more, want the city to change two main areas in its testing guidelines. First, representatives want healthcare professionals who encounter patients who test positive for COVID-19 tested right away regardless of if any symptoms are showing. Next, the unions are calling for a 14-day period of paid precautionary leave or quarantine for all healthcare professionals who have been exposed to the coronavirus.