Six emergency responders in Sitka are quarantining after a possible exposure to COVID-19.
Outgoing Fire Chief Dave Miller said they were responding to a house fire where one woman died on Sept. 18. They found out after administering CPR that the patient may have had the coronavirus.
“Everything happened so fast that CPR was the highest priority to try to save a life, and that’s what we tried to do,” Miller said.
He said once they found out about the possible exposure, they immediately followed the emergency response team’s protocols for COVID-19.
“We knew right away what we needed to do and that was to quarantine them, get them tested, get them quarantined, test them two or three times, to make sure everything was okay with them,” Miller said. “And that’s the highest priority is just to make sure that they’re all safe and sound.”
He said none of the first responders have tested positive for the coronavirus so far. They tested for the second time on Sunday (9-27-20) and expect the results back in two to three days. All six will quarantine until next Saturday.
