Related
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A doctor at Broward Health is pleading for faster returns on coronavirus tests for medical workers and first responders, so they can get back to fighting the pandemic.
With cases of COVID-19 on the rise in South Florida, more front line first responders, doctors and nurses are also getting sick. However, there is a new initiative to get those workers tested for the virus faster.
Dr. Warren Sturman is in charge of Broward County’s medical response unit, and he is working with emergency management officials to get rapid COVID-19 testing for first responders and healthcare workers, but a shortage of test collection kits has left them at a standstill.
“Getting them tested faster means getting them back on the front lines faster,” he said.
If a healthcare worker is exposed to the virus, they go into an automatic 14-day quarantine and cannot work.
Broward Health and Jackson Health System have not said how many of their nurses and doctors are home on 14-day quarantines, but 7News has learned that the number is rising. While they wait to get tested, the healthcare workers have to stay home.
“The problem we have is that there is a growing number of first responders that are being quarantined, and that number is getting larger everyday,” Sturman said. “What is happening is the people who are left behind are working harder. They are getting fatigued, and there is less support for them.”
Police and fire departments across South Florida are also dealing with the same issues.
More than 200 Broward Sheriff’s Office employees are in isolation. Miami-Dade Police has 19 officers in isolation, and City of Miami Police has almost two dozen officers in quarantine.
When asked if there are staffing concerns with more officers having to self-isolate, City of Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said, “There is a concern. We have a plan in place. Luckily, we have been planning, Brian, for quite a while. We plan with the idea that we may have a 40% reduction in our workforce.”
Some of the officers, doctors and nurses do not feel sick, but they are home because they were exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Sturman said the county is trying to secure new rapid tests that only take five minutes for results.
“We need to have a way of getting the people who are truly negative back on the front lines to help the people who are fighting for us right now,” he said.
7News has learned that the State of Florida has ordered around 2,000 of the rapid test kits and at least a couple of hundred tests will be coming to Broward County.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.