Multiple Stewart County, Tennessee EMS employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Shelby Campbell, spokesperson with the Stewart County Emergency Management Agency, says all of the positive employees are currently in isolation and will not return to work until they have fully recovered. She adds EMS conducted and received results of a mass testing Friday, July 17. The actual number of EMS employees infected with the virus was not released by county officials, but they say “multiple’.
Although EMS personnel have been wearing masks when conducting patient care for several months, Campbell says they will now wear masks while at the station and in the ambulance.
According to Campbell, a professional service conducted a decontamination and cleaning of all three EMS buildings. She adds EMS continues to decontaminate the ambulance after each call and monitor employees’ temperatures and for symptoms of COVID-19. Currently, she notes all three EMS stations are operational and serving the citizens of Stewart County.
Campbell says the Tennessee Department of Health is responsible for conducting contact tracing to notify those who may have been in contact with a positive EMS employee.
As of Monday afternoon, the state health department is reporting 47 total cases in Stewart County. Of that number, 33 are active cases and 14 have recovered.
