Knoxville Fire/EMS has had numerous instances of transporting patients with positive COVID-19 tests. Kale Critchlow with the department tells KNIA/KRLS News that in addition to their typical medical gear, extra equipment must be worn when dealing with a patient who has tested positive. He says that while this only increases the response time by an average of one minute, it’s a lengthy process when transporting a patient for medical care.

“First, we have to have somebody drive us to the hospital. The back of the ambulance is completely shut off from everything. The two people that are there, they go in with the patient, they stay with the patient the whole time. One of the two people that were outside will drive the ambulance to the hospital, they’ll stay away from us. While we’re in the hospital, that second crew has their N95 masks on, spraying and cleaning the back of the ambulance out. And when we come out of the hospital, they’ll spray us down, our gowns, our equipment. That’s all reusable except the gloves. We get all that stuff sprayed and wiped down, put it in the back of the ambulance. We won’t put the ambulance back together until we get back to the station where we can UV light it, which kills the rest of the virus.”

He adds that the latest recommendations say that the equipment needs to be under a UV light for at least 20 minutes to kill the virus, meaning that it’s a relatively quick turnaround before the next COVID-19 related response can be made. Find an interview with Critchlow here.