North Branford Fire Chief William Seward was alarmed when he got the news: his department, which runs the town’s ambulance service, would only receive one box of 35 respirators from the strategic national stockpile.
What’s more, all of those masks — which Seward picked up today in Essex — are expired.
“It’s beyond belief,” Seward said. Although the town currently has enough supplies on hand, Seward worries about what will happen if COVID-19 cases spike a few weeks down the road, he said.
North Branford is not alone.
Two East Haven firefighters and their families were quarantined for two weeks Friday after the pair of first responders assisted a 79-year-old man who became the town’s first confirmed case of COVID-19, the town said in a statement.