Volunteers face unique challenges, firefighters say
The Hopkins County fire chiefs and EMS director Brent Smith met Monday night at 6 p.m. to discuss the county response to COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.
According to Smith, cases of COVID-19 are just now starting to occur in Texas.
“We’re 14 days behind and don’t know how many cases are out there,” Smith stated.
He advised that labs had already tested one caller in Hopkins County, who tested negative. Smith clarified that being 14 days behind is due to the incubation period of the virus.
According to Smith, regional labs have the capacity to test only 25-50 individuals at the present time, and tests need to be sent out to Gregg and Smith counties. Labs follow a specific set of parameters and cannot be tested in Hopkins County, Smith said.
“You can sample in our county, but it has to be sent out,” Smith stated.
Samples are sent daily from facilitates in Hopkins County, according to Smith. If a patient believes they need to get tested, they should contact their primary care physician and ask where to get tested, he said. Except in the most severe cases, an ambulance will not transport a patient to the emergency room, Smith told firefighters. Only 5-9% have severe respiratory symptoms like inability to breathe, which require an ambulance transport, he said. Without severe symptoms, firefighters should try to keep people at home and have them self-isolate, Smith said.
“We’ve got Type A and B flu going around as well as the common cold,” Smith said. “GI symptoms—and by that I mean nausea, vomiting, diarrhea—are not common with the virus.”
Common symptoms of COVID-19, according to Smith, are low-grade fevers that come and go as well as dry cough.
“We’re 14 days behind knowing what’s happening today, and that’s the problem,” Smith said. “Are there people in Hopkins that have it? Very potentially. But I prefer to be proactive, and I prefer to be realistic.”
Smith said, “Numbers are going to go up,” on infections, and that it’s “inevitable” and “only a matter of time.”
However, he feels that there is “good science behind social distancing,” and that by implementing early precautions, Hopkins County residents can avoid “taxing the healthcare system by transmitting higher communicable spread.”
According to Emergency Management Coordinator and Hopkins County Station 20 Chief Andy Endsley, the COVID-19 task force has been meeting three times weekly and meets twice weekly with elected officials to brief them on updates. “Hopkins Coun
“Hopkins County is fully prepared for COVID-19,” Smith stated.
Tira Assistant Chief Shawn Martin discussed with the chiefs ways he felt firefighters could practice infection control, such as keeping a change of clothes in the car. Pickton-Pine Forest Chief Trey Thompson added that cleaning out the cab of one’s car or truck could help with infection control.
Smith noted that although the virus can live on surfaces for days if not cleaned, regular detergent and hot water is enough to inactivate the virus and no special disinfectants are needed.
Both Ray Sparks of Miller Grove and John Brian Beadle of Saltillo, members of their respective school boards, discussed the difficulties they faced as they supported their school communities in a time of need.
Brian Fairchild of Arbala, Wade McDaniel of Brinker and Chris Bassham of Sulphur Bluff, who all are firefighters as a professional career as well as volunteers, discussed what their other stations were implementing regarding PPE.
With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8 p.m.