First responders for emergency services are in the unique position of managing COVID-19 safety rules for their employees while simultaneously handling emergencies. The public and the first responders can face greater risks than usual because resolving a crisis may take precedence over social distancing and wearing face masks.
Law Enforcement / Fire & Rescue
The Impact of COVID-19 on First Responders
First responders can’t work remotely or use digital tools because the nature of their role is to deal with a crisis in person. Although there are areas where support staff and administration work can follow usual business practices for dealing with COVID-19, first responders may have other immediate priorities to save lives and maintain public order.
What You Need to Know about Testing and Surveillance for Emergency Services
First responders are not immune to catching and transmitting COVID-19, plus they are more likely to have multiple contacts during a workday. Keeping buildings free from COVID-19 with pre-entry screening is effective when people enter a building, leave, and do not return within the day. However, there is continual coming and going throughout the day for law enforcement and emergency services as shifts change and teams leave to deal with events as they happen.
Emergency services and first responders need regular screening to protect themselves, colleagues, and the public. The impact of a first responder becoming infected means the service may be short-staffed, and colleagues face increasing pressure to deliver the service safely with decreased human resources.
Types of Screening and Surveillance Programs for Emergency Services
More frequent screening may be necessary for first responders after attending an emergency event or because of their high level of interaction with the public. If a crisis center is in operation, regular screening of the public in the center and the staff supporting them may be necessary. This may include testing upon entry to the shelter and weekly after that as a precautionary measure until the center closes.
Pre-Entry Screening
Preventing people infected with COVID-19 from accessing a building is a sensible precaution to maintain a healthy workplace. Typically, this screening involves a health questionnaire and a temperature check as a first assessment of the risk of infection.
Daily Entrance Screening
It may not be possible to prohibit someone with COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms from the building for emergency service. Still, it enables you to identify higher-risk individuals and take other precautions against transmitting the disease while you deal with that individual. Daily entrance screening is effective as the first line of defense for employees working in the building in an administrative role or another capacity. Typically, daily entrance screening takes the form of a health questionnaire with or without a temperature check.
Pool and Pod Testing
COVID-19 screening for first responders in pools, including their coworkers, is the most effective approach for rapidly clearing employees to carry on working.
A negative test shows the whole team is clear of infection. A positive test shows that a particular group of team members, or those on that same shift, have been exposed since they have been in regular close contact.
The sample is sufficient to pool test and carry out an individual follow-up test to identify the one or two people in the team with COVID-19. These team members may be asymptomatic.
Contact Tracing
Vaccination of emergency service personnel protects them from the risks of catching and transmitting COVID-19, but not entirely.
Inside your headquarters or service buildings, it is possible to use a digital contact tracing system. You can issue the smart tags to visitors and contractors as a pass that tracks their progress through the building and close contact with your staff.
Tracking contacts with the public is more problematic, and this part will rely on a paper trail and verbal recollection. Digital contact tracing systems save time and effort. When one of your employees reports a positive COVID-19 result, the tracing system will tell you their close contacts and where they went inside the building.
Benefits of an Ongoing Testing Program
Testing Guidance / Requirements for Emergency Services
Emergency services have a strict protocol of testing requirements under federal and local laws and CDC guidelines. COVID testing for first responders must protect employees’ rights to privacy and prevent discrimination in the workplace. Although emergency service workers face an enhanced hazard level in their working lives, they deserve a safe workplace environment which can be maintained with regular testing and screening.
The impact of staff absence due to quarantine is higher in emergency service organizations, and a PCR test to reduce days lost is crucial in maintaining high levels of service delivery.
Each employee must have information about the testing process – typically a fact sheet issued with the test.
The necessary information covers the test (name, manufacturer, accuracy, limitations, and process), results (who gets them and on what time scale), and who pays for the test. Although the test is mandatory (needed for a safe workplace and to protect employees and the community), an employee may decline the test. The test paperwork needs to specify the consequences of refusing the test.
What to Do if You Have an Outbreak
An outbreak is two or more people with a connection in the workplace who contract Coronavirus. Any outbreak requires investigation as to how the infection passed between the individuals. The primary defense against transmitting COVID-19 in the workplace is social distancing, face masks, and hygiene.
In emergency services, an outbreak in a team that works closely is less surprising than transmission between groups who don’t work together. Testing close contacts can help identify asymptomatic individuals who may inadvertently spread the disease.
Quarantine can reduce staff numbers by having to removing an entire team from work. You can cut the quarantine down to ten days without testing or seven with a test taken up to 48 hours before they return to work. Anyone with symptoms needs to continue to isolate even if they test negative.
Close contacts can continue to work if they are symptom-free and either vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days. You may wish to test close contacts in case they are asymptomatic.
How Can Your Employees Access a Diagnostic Test?
Emergency service employees can book an appointment with Nexsun Labs via a secure online portal or telephone to schedule an appointment. Results are available within 24 hours or less, minimizing downtime for employees without infection.
Nexsun Labs can supply you with the necessary equipment for collecting samples in the workplace to send to our diagnostic lab for pool or individual testing.
Which Program is Best for Emergency Services?
How Our Program Works
Coronavirus and flu can put your people out of office for weeks, leaving you with gaps in your critical infrastructure and delivery. Access to rapid, accurate testing provided by our staff gives you the information you need on your employee’s infection status within 24 hours.
Your employees can self-access the service in person or take part in routine workplace screening depending on how you want to operate your COVID-19 screening and surveillance program.
Nexsun Labs offers an efficient walk-in service and can supply testing kits for workplace sample collection.
Why Partner with Nexsun Labs for Your Testing Needs?
Nexsun Labs aims to give you and your employees peace of mind. Accurate and affordable testing with fast results helps you and your staff deliver emergency services despite the extra challenges posed by a pandemic.
