COVID cases soar among Fort Worth police, firefighters. Here’s how they’re responding
COVID is starting to spike among Fort Worth police and firefighters, but the city says it is meeting staffing minimums through overtime and schedule adjustments.
The Police Department said 56 of its roughly 1,600 employees tested positive for COVID last week, a 75% increase from the previous six weeks, but still down from the 104 cases at the end of 2020.
The Fire Department has been hit harder: 116 of the department’s 927 firefighters are out on COVID-related leave.
This mirrors the trend in Tarrant County and across the United States, which is seeing a post-holiday surge of COVID cases fueled by the omicron variant.
The fire department is cutting two weeks from its recruiting classes to push instructors and trainees into service.
The recruits are required to pass certification tests before going out on calls, so none of the trainees pushed into service are under-qualified, Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington said. Response times have not been affected.
Police officers from specialized units are helping with daily staffing and patrol officers have been responding to emergency calls. The department said there was “no way to tell” if response times have been affected.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 6:32 PM.
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