As omicron surges, LI first responders cope with spike in calls and staff shortages
A fire department ambulance. Credit: Randee Daddona
Long Island's first responders are fielding a pandemic-fueled spike in calls for service amid the surge of the omicron variant that has stressed the emergency response system across Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The Island's police medics, volunteer firefighters and contingent of emergency medical technicians are not experiencing the same crisis levels of the early days of the pandemic when personal protective gear was in short supply. But the uptick in 911 calls for patients exhibiting coronavirus symptoms is still huge and comes during the already busy flu season.
Frontline workers are also contracting the virus themselves in greater numbers, adding staffing shortages to the mix. And while testing and the vaccines have helped ease the situation, first responders are dealing with the calls and transport involved in COVID-19 hospitalizations that last week were up 55% on Long Island.
"It's a very fragile system with the police departments and EMS, if you lose anybody as far as being able to respond, or if you have ambulances out of commission for three hours, you can have delayed response times. It starts to stack up," said Nassau Chief Fire Marshall Michael Uttaro.
Chris Airey, the director of the Nassau County Police Department's Emergency Ambulance Bureau, said the department's police medics are treating more COVID patients but many have mild to moderate symptoms compared with the earlier surge of more critical cases.
"Everyone is stressed from the large number of patients," said Airey, who oversees roughly 150 police medics. "But we're dealing with it."
Jamie Atkinson, president of the Sayville-based Community Ambulance Company, Inc., which is seeing a 20% increase in call volume, said: "This time last year we were seeing more acute cases. People are more open and honest about being covid-positive now. They take the home test and tell us ‘I think it is COVID,’ and that helps us prepare. I think that is what is saving our staffing."
But the increase in cases, albeit milder ones, has also caused traffic jams at local hospitals that add to the time first responders spend on COVID calls.
"The issue with the omicron now is the ER's are completely overwhelmed," said Uttaro. "A lot of people are going to hospitals for mild to medium symptoms of the variant and they're basically getting treated and sent home because they want to keep those beds open. You have 20 to 30 people going to the ER, it basically paralyzes the ER."
The average 911 call that would typically take an hour or so for a crew of volunteer firefighters is now taking two or three hours as ambulances are sometimes forced to wait for beds to open up, he said.
And the recent surge in the virus has spread rapidly among first responders themselves and their families, just as it has to the general population.
The Nassau County Police Department has 245 employees either out sick with coronavirus or in quarantine as of Friday, including 202 police officers and 42 civilian employees — roughly 6% of its 4,000-person workforce, according to the department.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said in a statement: "The department continues to fill shortages by backfilling those positions. I am very proud of the dedicated police officers, police medics and support staff of the department as they continue to work through this pandemic providing excellent service to our residents."
There were 201 sworn members of the Suffolk County Police Department out of work as of Friday due to either a positive case or because they're quarantining due to possible exposure, according to Mary Kate Guilfoyle, a spokeswoman for County Executive Steve Bellone.
On Dec. 1, there were just 20 sworn members of the department out for similar reasons.
Uttaro said while the number of volunteer firefighters stricken by the virus in recent weeks has not significantly depleted the ranks, one fire department on the North Shore recently had seven of its members all out sick or quarantining at the same time. But he said because of redundancies in the system, it had not caused a safety issue.
Gregory C. Miglino Jr., chief of department of the Brookhaven-based South Country Ambulance Company, said he's seen his call volume triple on some shifts and his personnel are wearing heavy protective equipment on every call, just as they did when the virus first began to spread.
"We are encouraging people who are willing to get vaccinated to do so," said Miglino. "We are encouraging people to continue social distancing and wearing masks so we can all get through this together."
Testing has proved to be a critical component for first responders to help monitor themselves.
Last week, the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services distributed about 7,600 test kits to 83 first responder agencies, including local fire and EMS.
Atkinson said his company has plenty of COVID-19 tests on-hand. About 6% of the ambulance company’s workforce is out with coronavirus, he said, adding that 99% of employees are vaccinated.
"The tests are a game changer; the vaccines are a game changer," said Atkinson.
Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said his department — 54 cops and 13 dispatchers — has had a few officers out because of positive tests or quarantining. He said they have had some issues with officers receiving false positives from home tests and said it has been difficult for officers to get PCR tests.
He added that the new Centers for Disease Control recommendation for a 5-day quarantine, down from 10 days, is helpful. Flately said most but not all of his officers are vaccinated.
"We've been managing it and I hope we can get through it," Flatley said.
Still, the sheer number of COVID remains the single most difficult challenge, as emergency rooms overwhelmed by the volume of patients and ambulances have to often divert patients from busier hospitals nearby to those further away.
Uttaro said on a recent day 7 or 8 ambulances were waiting with patients for beds to become available outside a hospital that he declined to name but said was in central Nassau. Uttaro said none of the patients were in critical condition.
Uttaro also said an ambulance transporting another noncritical patient from the Five Towns area was forced to travel to NYU — Langone Hospital in Mineola because two hospitals that were close by were "on diversion" the term used when hospitals are at or near capacity and patients are diverted to other facilities.
And after each call with a patient who is COVID-19 positive or suspected of having the virus, the crews must decontaminate the ambulance, which takes it out of commission longer, he said.
"Sometimes these volunteers say I can't leave work that long or home that long and they don't go," said Uttaro.
Uttaro said some volunteer fire departments have reverted to using "duty crews" of drivers and EMTs who are staying 24-7 in firehouses in order to answer the volume of calls more efficiently, though he said he had not heard that 911 call response times were delayed.
He said a "saving grace" has been an influx of EMTs who are college students home for the holidays. And while Uttaro said the situation is nowhere near as dire as it was in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, he said he's hopeful the new infections are brought under control soon.
"We definitely tip our hat to the volunteers," said Uttaro. "They're in the thick of this once again."
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
