Providence firefighters are responding to more calls every day for people with symptoms of COVID-19, according to the union president.
Derek Silva, the president of the Providence Firefighters Union Local 799, said the Providence Fire Department responded to 17 calls between 8 a.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday that were related to COVID-19. He called it a “dramatic uptick” from the previous few days, which saw between five and eight calls. Silva said calls for medical help are categorized as possibly related to COVID-19 if a person has flu-like symptoms and also another factor, such as recent travel or contact with a person who has the virus. He said some emergency calls come in for a person with chest pain, and paramedics who arrive discover the patient has also had a cough, travel or other factor that makes it a possible COVID-19 case.