(Photo by Ryan Morrill)
According to the island’s health authorities, nearly two dozen rescuers from two separate beach patrols on Long Beach Island tested positive for COVID-19 after after-hours social gatherings earlier this month. The beaches of both communities will remain fully staffed while the affected lifeguards are in quarantine.
Eleven first responders from Harvey Cedars and 12 of their Surf City counterparts have tested positive for the coronavirus, Dan Krupinski, a health officer with the LBI Department of Health, said Friday afternoon. The outbreak is under investigation.
“The health department began receiving reports of COVID-19 activity between Surf City guards on July 18 and first responders Harvey Cedars on Sunday, July 19, “Krupinski said, adding that the outbreak is believed to have started in a party on July 12 and another on July 14 “. Contact tracking is ongoing, with the full cooperation of counties and beach patrol supervisors. “
Harvey Cedars Commissioner of Public Safety John Imperiale He said the affected first responders were removed from service and quarantined as soon as it became known that they would have to be evaluated. They are not eligible to return to work, as soon as possible and at the discretion of management, until authorized by the health department.
“The whole new cases in the district are the lifeguards,” Imperiale said Friday afternoon.
Basic contact tracing includes identifying all individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus and isolating them until they meet the appropriate criteria to end their quarantine. Tracking contacts also includes identifying and quarantining your close contacts, according to Krupinski.
“All the positives are isolating,” he said, adding that people who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms with pending test results should also be quarantined.
The health department follows the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Health to discharge isolation cases, according to Krupinski. Quarantine can be based on symptoms or tests, he said.
“Our main concern for transmission it is those identified as close contacts, those who live, work and socialize with a positive individual in their period of communicability, “he said.
All people who are exposed to the coronavirus are instructed to quarantine for 14 days from the last day they were exposed to a positive case, according to instructions on how to quarantine issued by the LBI Department of Health.
“Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who have been exposed to a contagious disease to see if they get sick. People in quarantine may or may not get sick, ”according to the document. “Quarantined people stay home so they don’t pass the disease on to healthy people.”
People in quarantine are instructed to take their temperature twice a day and record the results, monitor signs and symptoms, stay home, and have no one to visit. If symptoms develop, they should immediately isolate themselves from others (including family and friends living in the home), notify their doctor and the health department.
According to the guidelines of the state health department, anyone who does not develop symptoms of COVID-19 after exposure can complete the quarantine in 14 days. A person with respiratory symptoms who was directed to stay home can end the quarantine once the following criteria are met: no fever for 72 hours or three days without fever with the use of fever-reducing medications; Other symptoms have improved and it has been at least 10 days since the symptoms first appeared or if no symptoms appeared within 10 days from the date of the positive test result.
Imperiale Just because the health department authorizes first responders to return to work does not necessarily mean that they will, at least immediately.
“You can’t penalize someone for getting sick” Imperiale he said, “but you can penalize someone for ignoring” the appropriate guidelines and directives of state and local officials during a public health emergency.
He said the results of the social gatherings, which are believed to have been in Surf City, is that there is tension in the city.
“They cannot and will not go without consequences” Imperiale said of the lifeguards who ignored the protocols of social distancing while they were not on duty. He noted that when these first responders were on duty, they followed strict protocols to maintain the social distance between themselves and the public; they had their own personal protective equipment, including disinfectant wipes and facial coatings; and they had their own chairs that were more than 6 feet away.
The Harvey Cedars beach patrol currently has 73 lifeguards on staff, while Surf City has 62, 20 more than last year. Surf City officials said they hired additional guards this year as a precautionary measure and that their beaches will continue to be staffed during the quarantine period.
In the meantime, Ship Bottom officials are in the process of determining if any of its guards attended a party where the outbreak is suspected to have started.
“At this point, we are trying to find out who, if anyone, was at this party,” said Boat Fund Mayor William Huelsenbeck he said Friday morning. “We are doing that now. It’s a red flag “if they were.
Huelsenbeck He said some of the county lifeguards and beach badge inspectors have been voluntarily tested for coronavirus because they are interacting with the public, not because of the recent increase in numbers.
“They have the responsibility to distance themselves socially” Huelsenbeck he said, “but you can’t control what they do after hours. But we are definitely above that.”
At Harvey Cedars, the owners of Black Eyed Susans The restaurant issued a statement on social media that said “given the news of several cases of COVID-19 in our community, we have made the decision to temporarily close to ensure the safety of our team and our guests.”
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