The Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center announced new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ketchikan Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in Ketchikan to nine. The spread is concerning to community members and officials there, considering the first case was announced last week. "We have three grocery stores, a post office, a community recreation center and you can imagine that everyone in the community goes to those locations several times a week, that's my concern," said Carol Dooley, owner of Alaska Sport Fishing Adventures, LLC. On top of worry over the spread, Dooley adds to her concerns being an owner of a fishing charter company catering to cruise ship passengers.  

Sitka firefighters responded to a small fire in a home bathroom on Monday afternoon (3-23-20). Chief engineer Craig Warren says the firehall received the call at 4:35 P.M. on Monday that a wastebasket was on fire in the bathroom of an upstairs apartment on Edgecumbe Drive. By the time firefighters had arrived on scene, the homeowner had contained the fire with a chemical extinguisher. Firefighters ensured that the blaze had not spread to the attic, or other parts of the home. Warren says the cause of the fire remains under investigation.  

VIDEO: Montgomery County first responders who are on the frontlines in the fight against the coronavirus are using spray guns to clean ambulances and keep themselves safe. "One of our employees came up with the idea just to go to Home Depot or Lowes and get paint sprayers," Justin McNabb, a Narberth Ambulance Infection Control Officer, told NBC10. "So we actually filled it up with isopropyl alcohol. It works like a charm." It's part of an overall effort to protect EMT workers in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which has at least 159 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday. "As we pull up to the scene, we're really focusing now on taking our time once we get on scene," McNabb said. "We cannot rush through this. We have to make sure that we're protected in the right way."  

VIDEO: Thuy Dinh was stuck at home while the coronavirus pandemic was quickly moving across the world. So, the mechanical engineer put her talents to use—from home. "A lot of people right now who aren't in the medical field feel like there's a sense of helplessness," Dinh said. She had seen a design of a protective face shield on Facebook and decided to use her own home 3-D printer to make one. "This design by Prusa had been floating around my Facebook for a while, so I decided to make one. It was a dollar to make," she said. That creation, which Dinh says cost only a dollar, has since sparked a grassroots movement. "So I started posting them on my Instagram, just the process of it to see if I could figure out which hospitals might need them. And, the next day, five other makers reached out, and now we're running our 3-D printers around the clock to print them and get them distributed to hospitals," Dinh said.  

In reaction to Ohio's first confirmed death from coronavirus, a state lawmaker is urging his colleagues to back a bill that would require hospitals and local boards of health to notify first responders when a patient they've treated is suspected of having a contagious disease. "We need to make sure our first responders stay healthy and are able to respond to the community's call for service," said state Rep. Haraz Ghanbari (R., Perrysburg). "In this case, it's my understanding that these first responders did not find out this was a presumptive case from the hospital or department of health and heard about it instead through social media and media reports." Springfield Township firefighters who initially transported Mark Wagoner, Sr., to St. Luke's Hospital after a fall were not told by the hospital or the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department that Mr. Wagoner was subsequently treated as a presumptive coronavirus patient.  

As shelter-in-place orders and other directives from government officials take effect, people across the country are adapting to a new normal of social distancing, working from home and, in some cases, temporarily closing up shop during the COVID-19 outbreak. Health officials say such measures are essential to help "flatten the curse," keeping the number of disease cases at a manageable level, spread out over time. But as we all know, first responders and healthcare workers simply cannot stay at home. They are on the front lines of the disease, responding to medical calls, transporting patients and providing treatment to those in need. First responders and healthcare workers have taken to social media, pleading with the public to #StayHomeForUs to help flatten the curve. Images show first responders holding signs with messages like, "We stay here for you; you stay home for us."  

While some families are grappling with how to keep their children educated and entertained in this new age of social distancing, many on the front lines are grappling with whether to risk coming home to their families some nights or pondering whether responding to an emergency could result in exposure. The risks and pressures squeezing those on the front lines transcend the health care industry, as essential services are provided by emergency responders, police, nurses, doctors, lab clinicians, maintenance workers, administrators, those in transportation, utilities, cleaning and food services and many other interconnected duties that make all life-saving operations work. Through this pandemic, we want to bring you the stories of those on the front lines... "Am I going to get exposed on this call?" "It's a very strange time. I've been in EMS for 25 years. The only other time things were so unknown was when Sept 11 happened.