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Posts Tagged 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19 in Cicero

Apr 28

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) | Comments off

Excerpts from wttw.com:

Suburban Cicero has seen one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in Cook County, reporting 844 confirmed cases Monday with 18 deaths. 

“I think it’s due to the demographics of the town, so many people in such a close proximity, so many people living in a three-flat and things like that,” said Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi, who is part of the town’s emergency committee handling the pandemic response. 

A huge chunk of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cicero have occurred at one nursing home, City View Multicare Center on Cermak Road. The facility has seen over 200 confirmed cases, with eight deaths.  Its handling of the coronavirus has drawn the ire of local officials, and the facility is now under investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health. 

“We’re trying to get a handle on it, we’re trying to figure out what’s happening [there],” Buscemi said. “At the onset of the pandemic, I don’t think they were taking the precautions they needed to take. I don’t think that the PPE (personal protective equipment) was being work by the staff members. I don’t think residents were being secluded.” 

Buscemi says the town has served the nursing home with several citations so far. 

Cicero has also issued five executive orders targeting COVID-19 on top of statewide measures. In mid-April, it mandated that masks be worn by everyone going into public buildings, like grocery stores. 

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19

Apr 24

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) | Comments off

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

The Northwest Central Dispatch System plans to go to court Friday to try to get the Cook County Department of Public Health to release information on confirmed COVID-19 patients in the Northwest suburbs. The anticipated filing of a temporary restraining order in Cook County circuit court follows an unsuccessful lobbying effort by the Arlington Heights-based dispatch system and elected officials in some of its 11 member communities.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle turned down the request, while a resolution to provide addresses of COVID-19 patients sponsored by six county board members was sent to committee Thursday. That resolution earned letters of support from mayors and village presidents in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine, and Wheeling.

Officials from the dispatch system, which answers 911 calls for police and fire departments in the Northwest suburbs, argue that having information on coronavirus patients would increase the safety precautions paramedics, police, and firefighters take before they arrive at emergency calls. Dispatchers planned to enter the information into their computer-aided dispatch system as premise warnings when sending police or fire to an address, but vowed to remove the information after an agreed amount of time.

“My personal position had been that we should follow Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines,” Preckwinkle said. “My understanding is that those guidelines suggested that our first responders emergency personnel should assume that any residence that they go to is possibly infected by COVID-19 since 80% of the people who get the disease have either mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.”

That’s a similar view to that of the McHenry County Health Department, which declined to provide names of COVID-19 patients until the McHenry County sheriff and four police departments sued earlier this month. A judge ruled that the names should be provided but must be kept confidential and purged from the 911 dispatch system seven days after the health department deems a patient is no longer contagious.

Lake County Health Department officials also have opted not to provide patient information to police and first responders firefighters.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19 (more)

Apr 23

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), Fire Department Funeral, Fire Department News, LODD | Comments off

Excerpts from ABC7Chicago.com:

A funeral was held Wednesday for Edward Singleton, the second Chicago firefighter to die from coronavirus complications. He passed away April 14 at age 55 and leaves behind a wife and two adult children.

While a traditional funeral service is not possible during these times, immediate family was allowed inside the funeral home while friends and fellow firefighters remained in their parked vehicles outside. A live stream allowed loved ones to join in mourning. Following the service, a procession accompanied Singleton’s hearse to Mt. Hope Cemetery.

As of today, 130 Chicago firefighters have been diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Both Chicago Fire Department deaths were declared in the line-of-duty, so their families could access additional benefits.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19 (more)

Apr 21

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), Fire Department News | 3 Comments

Excerpts from fox32chicago.com:

 The Chicago Fire Department announced Monday that the families of two Chicago firefighters who died of COVID-19 will receive line-of-duty benefits. The benefits will provide the families of Mario Araujo and Edward Singleton with one-year’s salary and funds for funeral expenses. The department will also assist the families in obtaining other federal, state, and local benefits afforded to members who have died in the line of duty.

“Our current situation is unprecedented in the history of our department and will be addressed accordingly,” Fire Commissioner Richard Ford II said in the statement. “These two members made the ultimate sacrifice to protect those whom they swore an oath to serve. We will not forget our obligation to their families in this time of crisis.”

Any death of a CFD member will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis for determination of line-of-duty status, he said.

Singleton, a 33-year veteran of the department, died April 14 from complications of COVID-19. The 55-year-old worked at the firehouse at Midway Airport, and leaves behind a wife and two adult children. One week earlier, Araujo became the first firefighter of the department to die from the coronavirus. Araujo, 47, joined the fire department in October 2003. He was single.

As of Friday evening, 109 members of CFD have tested positive for COVID-19, while 37 of them have already returned to duty. There were 12 members quarantined after being exposed to someone who later tested positive for the disease.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19

Apr 20

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) | Comments off

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Curtis Perlman, a trustee on the Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District board, has dedicated himself in recent weeks to connecting first responders firefighters. paramedics, and medical personnel with masks, sanitizer, and other protective supplies. He has become a sought-after source for local fire and police chiefs. He leased a pickup truck last month for deliveries of supplies and has already put about 4,000 miles on it.

Most supplies come from charities and businesses that are looking to donate them and need help with distribution. He has worked with four local sanitizer-producing distilleries as well as traditional medical supply companies. He found others on Facebook looking to help and is saddened that such a need for supplies exists.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19 (more)

Apr 17

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), Fire Department News | 1 Comment

Excerpts from abc7chicago.com:

A second Chicago firefighter has died from COVID-19. The Chicago Fire Department announced Wednesday that Firefighter Edward Singleton, 55, died Tuesday night. Singleton was assigned to Midway Airport and joined the department in 1987. He leaves behind a wife and two adult children.

Last Monday, a funeral was held for Mario Araujo, who was the first Chicago firefighter to die from COVID-19 complications.

While new deaths are still being reported, there is also evidence that Chicago is flattening the curve. The mayor and Chicago Public Health Department commissioner spoke in detail about steps, like the stay-at-home order, that have had a positive impact.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19

Apr 15

Posted by Admin in Coronavirus, CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from NBCchicago.com:

At least 94 employees of the Chicago Fire Department have tested positive for the coronavirus, of those, 18 members have already returned to duty. Nineteen are being quarantined after being exposed to someone with COVID-19.

On Monday, CFD buried Mario Araujo, the first member of the department to die from the coronavirus.

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19

Apr 15

Posted by Admin in CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) | Comments off

Excerpts from the ChicagoSunTimes.com:

Suburban police and fire departments Tuesday began stocking up on the 240,000 N95 masks being distributed by Cook County officials over the next two days to combat. The protective gear was donated by the U.S. Department of Defense in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A Bellwood firefighter loaded up an ambulance with 37 boxes, filled with 160 masks each, tThe Alsip Fire Department stocked a trailer with 15 boxes, the South Chicago Fire Department packed a truck bed with boxes containing 2,300 face masks, and the Homewood Police Department loaded up an SUV with 5,000 pairs of gloves and more than 1,000 face masks along. Representatives from the Morton Grove Police Department and the Matteson Police Department were also on hand to receive supplies.

William Barnes, head of the county’s Emergency Management and Regional Security, said the new masks supplement local reserves. “We have a reserve of personal protective equipment that we continue to replenish through a variety of sources, those are through donations, purchases … but the 240,000 masks that received from FEMA, by and large exceeds any influx that we’ve had.”

The county has already doled out roughly 700,000 pieces of personal protective equipment, including gloves, hair covers and foot booties within the last month.

 

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Chicago Fire Department news

Apr 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Department Funeral, Fire Department News | 4 Comments

Excerpts from the ChicagoSunTimes.com:

Hundreds of Chicago Fire Department personnel and law enforcement officers stood more than 6 feet apart on North Pulaski Road and saluted Monday morning as the hearse carrying Firefighter Mario Araujo traveled to a Northwest Side cemetery.

Araujo’s funeral was attended by a limited number of family members. Hundreds of his colleagues and supporters waited outside the funeral home and eventually joined in the procession to Montrose Cemetery, where a brief ceremony, featuring bagpipes and a 21-gun salute, took place in front of the crematorium. Araujo’s mother was presented with the Chicago flag that draped her son’s casket.

Araujo, 49, joined the fire department in October 2003 and spent most of his career on Truck 25, which operates out of Engine 102’s house in Rogers Park. He died April 7 after a battle with the coronavirus. He is the first member of the fire department to die of COVID-19.

Funeral for Chicago Firefighter Mario Araujo

Chicago FD Media photo

Funeral for Chicago Firefighter Mario Araujo

Chicago FD Media photo

Funeral for Chicago Firefighter Mario Araujo

Chicago FD Media photo

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Fire service news – Coronavirus COVID-19

Apr 8

Posted by Admin in Coronavirus, CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from nbcchicago.com:

Several dozen members of the Chicago Fire Department have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the department to 46. Of those, nine employees have returned to duty as of Tuesday. Another 18 are currently quarantined after a confirmed exposure to the coronavirus.

When the department announced its first coronavirus case three weeks ago, the CFD was taking measures to protect its members from the disease, including dedicating specific ambulances for patients with suspected COVID-19. The department still has four ambulance dedicated for that purpose.

For now, all paramedics responding to respiratory calls or suspected COVID-19 patients are dressing in personal protective equipment including an N-95 mask, face shield and gloves. Paramedics who use a CPAP breathing machine on a patient, regardless of the call involving COVID-19, are sleeping in separate quarters to minimize possible exposure. Firehouses and ambulances are also undergoing thorough cleanings after contact with a coronavirus patient.

The Chicago police announced Tuesday that 112 of its members have tested positive for COVID-19. Last week a veteran undercover CPD officer died from the coronavirus.

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