Allegany County Sheriff confirms two 911 dispatchers test positive for COVID - response was immediate - watch and wait

Allegany County Sheriff Rick Whitney today confirmed a Wellsville Regional News (WRN) report that two 911 dispatchers working at the Belmont Public Safety Facility have tested positive for COVID-19. In a statement to WRN, Whitney said one employee is part-time and hasn’t worked since October. The other, he said, "is full-time and last worked the weekend of Nov 14-15." The sheriff said that worker is quarantined at home. Whitney stated "the dispatchers that worked with that employee are quarantined at home other than coming to work and at this time have tested negative or have been advised they do not need to be tested unless they develop symptoms."

Wellsville Rescue-1 assisted the Sheriff's Office Friday by responding to assist with decontamination services. That agency has a 'fogger' to spray disinfectant. 

WRN asked several other questions (The sheriff response is in red):

.      What actions have you taken to protect 911 staff? No one other than dispatchers are allowed in the 911 dispatch center. We have continued to remind them to self-monitor, wear masks, wash their hands frequently, social distance etc. We have also issued an order that employees are not allowed to work or volunteer outside of their job here. This would include working part-time for other agencies, or volunteering with a local ambulance etc.

 

4.      Is there a "Plan Z" in case several 911 staffers test positive or become ill? Unfortunately we only have a limited number of dispatchers. If several of them were to test positive, they may well be required to work if possible, as we cannot shut down the dispatch center. If this happens we will re-open the old dispatch center at the county building and split them up.

 

 

5.      Share any positive thoughts you have regarding this. We have done our best to advise the staff to self-monitor, wear masks, wash their hands frequently, social distance etc., unfortunately we have to rely on them following directions when they are not at work. We cannot monitor them 24/7. We have increased our facility cleaning / disinfecting and as stated above had Wellsville Rescue here to decontaminate. With the increase in positive cases throughout the county we can only ask that people use common sense and do their best to follow the advice of public health officials and CDC guidelines.