LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Los Angeles County Fire Department is testing firefighters with the serology or antibody test to track COVID-19 within the department. Firefighters Sean Ferguson and Chris Donelli are among thousands of first responders taking the test.
Ferguson says he tested negative while Donelli, who is waiting to be tested, is hoping for the same. Both men see a negative result as proof the department took the right steps to handle the threat of virus from the get-go.
“The department has taken an aggressive stance in terms of education and PPE early,” said Ferguson.
After all, firefighters get plenty of exposure to the virus. Eighty-five percent of their calls are medical.
“We’ve responded to many COVID-19 positive patients,” said Donelli. “Now it’s a new protocol, the new normal as everyone calls it with hand washing and wearing face masks on scene and wearing masks and gowns.”
The new normal applies to inside the fire station as well.
“Every time I get back to the station, after a call no matter the call, I go in and wash my hands,” said Donelli.
His hands aren’t the only things that get cleansed. “The engines twice a day. The dorms twice a day. Kitchen, flat surfaces, door knobs, light switches,” described Donelli.
There is evidence that what they are doing is working. Dr. Clayton Kazan is medical director for the L.A. County Fire Department.
“We’re doing our own internal study,” said Dr. Kazan.
The LA County Fire Department is testing all 4,000 firefighters with the serology test. A simple finger prick and a few minutes later, the results are in. In theory, a negative test means the person has not been exposed to the virus, while a positive indicates the person was exposed and developed antibodies.
Preliminary results show the prevalence is about three percent inside the department - the same as the general population in L.A. County.
“It sets a baseline,“ said Dr. Kazan. They’re going to come back and repeat it monthly, for three months, to see how it changes over time.”
He says the serology test is also useful for tracking the disease in a particular population.
However, some health officials say that while this type of test is useful for tracking the disease in a specific population, it can give individuals a false sense of security. Someone who tests positive for the antibodies may feel confident they are protected from the disease, but Dr. Paul Simon, Chief Science Officer for the LA County Department of Public Health, warns that may not be so.
“We don’t yet quite know how strong that antibody is in terms of providing protection and we don’t know how long that protection lasts,” said Dr. Simon.
Dr. Simon says regardless of test results, people should maintain social distancing, wear masks and wash their hands often. He’s also concerned with the reliability rates of serology tests. The CDC now states serology tests can be wrong up to 50 percent of the time and so their low reliability rate can result in risky behavior.
“If someone does test antibody positive, but that’s a false positive result, they, in fact, don’t have antibodies,” said Dr. Simon. “They might be falsely reassured. They go back out and you know, perhaps expose themselves to others with the infection.”
He also says negative results from a few days ago, even if the test was accurate, doesn’t mean the person does not have the disease today. The person could have been exposed after taking the test.
A risk that always weighs on Donelli’s mind.
“So I have to operate like I'm always a carrier because far be it from me to show up on scene and not be wearing PPE,” said Donelli. “That’s just not fair to the public.”
That behavior is just what the doctor ordered to keep both firefighters and the people they go out to help, safe from COVID-19.