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While Others Shelter in Place, East End’s First Responders Face Virus Head On

Thu, 03/19/2020 - 08:58

On the front lines in uncertain times

East Hampton Village ambulance personnel prepared to transport a patient with a fever and cough to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Thursday morning.
David E. Rattray

While most people have been told to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19, first responders who are on the front lines do not have the luxury of closing up shop.

“Our main focus is to maintain services while offering limited close contacts with the public, and reducing the need for foot traffic at our public facilities,” said East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo. “We need to keep our officers healthy so they can continue to perform the essential duties of emergency response and criminal investigations.”

At the Montauk precinct as of Monday, officers will use the building, but it will no longer be open to the public. Walk-in complaints at headquarters in Wainscott are screened through a glass partition. Emergencies should be phoned in to 911; non-emergencies should be called in to 631-537-7575.

On Facebook over the weekend, Chief Sarlo posted a request that the public use the department website and certain emails for reporting lost or found property and requesting copies of reports, rather than doing so in person with an officer.

“Basically, we need support from the public to prioritize their needs, and understand that certain things they may want to take care of right now can and should wait, and thus should be pushed off until we have a better handle on the community spread concerns with this virus.”

“I think we are doing well locally, as best as can be expected,” East Hampton Village Police Chief Michael Tracey said, adding that all fire, emergency medical service, police, and dispatchers are “really stepping up to the plate.”

Chief Tracey, who oversees the village’s Emergency Communications Center, which dispatches for fire and E.M.S. agencies throughout East Hampton Town, including Sag Harbor, said that there had been four calls in which patients reported fever and/or coughs since the COVID-19 outbreak. There was one reported in Bridgehampton.

Any time police, E.M.S., and firefighters are sent out, dispatchers are screening callers for potential symptoms. Addresses known to have people who have tested positive or who are in quarantine are flagged for notification to the responding officers.

Emergency medical service agencies all over the South Fork held emergency training to review how volunteers and paid staff could protect themselves from the virus while still answering calls for help. With the N95 protective masks used by first responders and gowns flying off the shelves nationwide, Suffolk County E.M.S. issued bulletins and held conference calls late last week in an attempt to address concerns over a lack of supplies. On Tuesday, the county notified agencies that it would be supplying surgical masks for patients this week.

In Sag Harbor Village, Police Chief Austin McGuire asked that those who do not have true emergencies and those who can wait for a response call 631-725-0058.

“One of the on-duty police officers will return your call in a timely manner and assess the situation,” he said. “This is only for nonemergency situations. If you have a true emergency and require the police, ambulance, or fire department, call 911.”

He suspended all nonessential police functions, such as releasing impounded vehicles, report requests, and noncriminal fingerprinting.

“This is not how I like us to serve our community, however, in an attempt to limit person-to-person contact, I feel this is the safest way to police at this time.”

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon, who is in charge of the correctional facilities in Riverside and Yaphank, suspended visits starting on Tuesday in order to limit the spread of the virus, though there had, at that point, been no cases reported in those jails. Attorneys, however, can still make arrangements to see their clients.

Sheriff Toulon said newly arriving inmates are being screened for COVID-19 and segregated from the rest of the inmates in a separate housing area for 14 days. The facilities are being disinfected three times a day and “a heavy cleaning” is done each evening, he said.

The pistol licensing bureau, located in part of the jail facility in Riverside, is also closed.

Courthouses throughout Suffolk County, including East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village Justice Courts, were shuttered after Monday. All cases have been adjourned.

Arraignments and other applications that need to be immediately addressed, such as those involving orders of protection, will be dealt with in Central Islip, even for those charged on the South Fork. Justice Lisa R. Rana said, however, that cases requiring after-hours or weekend arraignments will still be heard in East Hampton and Sag Harbor.

Also as of Monday, all eviction proceedings and pending eviction orders have been suspended. Family Court will hear only essential matters, such as issues related to child protection proceedings, juvenile delinquency, and support orders.

East Hampton Fire Department Chief Gerard Turza Jr. said his department is continually monitoring the situation and is in constant contact with both county and local emergency management partners and that it had implemented several minor procedural changes to help ensure safety.

“It’s important for the public to assist responders by being responsible and proactive as well,” he said. “If they are self-quarantining, then they shouldn’t be out roaming the countryside, visiting the beaches, taking walks and certainly not going to public places, such as stores and other places where they may come into contact with others.” 

Chief Sarlo also said he was concerned earlier this week that the public was not taking the warnings and recommendation of the health professionals seriously. “If we hunker down and isolate, keep six-foot distance from people when we have to go out for essential errands, we will make tremendous strides in ‘flattening the curve’ on this pandemic,” he said.

As testing becomes more readily available, he said everyone needed to be ready for the spike in positive results in our community. “It is inevitable. So, we can’t panic, and we need to continue to be prepared. This will pass, as all viral outbreaks do, but the more we cooperate and take precautions, the sooner that will happen.”


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