Fire/Rescue chief encourages best practices amid virus concerns

South Burlington Fire and Rescue Chief Terry Francis is home with the flu, but he’s in good spirits. He’s encouraging residents to wash their hands, cover their coughs, and by all means … stay home if they’re sick. 

“People just really need to pay attention to what medical professionals are saying about what's the best way to isolate [COVID-19],” Francis said. “Don't listen to the politicians. Listen to the medical specialists.” 

Currently, medical professionals recommend that individuals who believe they might have the virus call their primary care physician. Symptoms associated with COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath.  

“You can handle this. You know how to handle this. It's very common sense. My grandmother told me this when I was knee high to a grasshopper, and that was a really long time ago, of how to deal with this,” Francis said. “And she lived through the Spanish Flu.” 

Indeed, good hygiene practices like washing hands and covering coughs have been touted as preventive measures. Likewise, staying home when sick, or avoiding close contact with those who are sick have been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

“How to handle this is pretty well known,” Francis said. “The scary part is that [COVID-19] is a different strain of an influenza-type virus that we don't have a great treatment modality for yet.” 

But he said those issues are being worked on. A vaccine could be ready by next year.  

“History will tell us whether or not all these other actions that are being taken there, are correct or not,” Francis said. “But you have to deal with the information you have currently.” 

Francis said he understands people’s “angst” around the new strain of coronavirus but cautions them to listen to medical professionals.  

“I don't know that Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and all of that are really helping people out,” he said. “I've seen some stuff on some of these platforms like, ‘Where in the name of God are these people getting their information from?’” 

As for toilet paper and hand sanitizer purchases, Francis said due diligence is okay, but the tried-and-true methods are still effective.  

“I think just societally we're looking for instant gratification. We think we need to do stuff immediately,” he said. “The bar soap on your sink with warm water does just as good a job as spending five bucks on a bottle of Purell.” 

And Francis encouraged at-risk persons to be mindful. 

“If you're sick, and this sounds so stupid, but if you're sick stay home,” he said. “That's what I'm doing, just so I don't infect 30 of my coworkers.” 

How South Burlington’s first responders will answer the call 

South Burlington First Responders have been preparing for COVID-19. 

“We're fortunate that the Department of Health, our health department and CDC have been giving us really good information that's been updated at least every 24 hours, if not more often than that,” Francis said. “As we work with UVM Medical Center, they've been able to fill-in some minor gaps in information … that is important for first responders.” 

Currently, community members who suspect they may have COVID-19 are encouraged to call their primary care physician before calling emergency medical responders.  

The virus is presenting like an “influenza bug,” Francis said. He added influenza has been present in South Burlington for about 70 days. 

Currently, when an individual calls dispatch expressing flu-like symptoms they are asked if they’ve been in contact with other sick individuals, have been in large gatherings or traveled to areas including Japan, South Korea, China and Italy, Francis said.  

“What that does is it clues first responders in as to what level of personal protective equipment we need to use,” he said, adding while gloves and eyewear are standard, responders may don N95 masks – the face-fitting masks – during influenza outbreaks. First responders also provide patients exhibiting flu-like symptoms with surgical masks to contain their coughs.   

“If we have reasonable suspicion that we have the influenza then we'll put on the N95 mask and ... take the appropriate precautions for ourselves, as well as the rest of  family members, and transport that person to the hospital,” Francis said. He added the hospital screens individuals with flu-like symptoms before determining where to bring them inside the emergency room.