MAYFLOWER, Ark. — While coronavirus has not come to Arkansas yet, medics got their first test regarding it Wednesday.
The Faulkner County District Court’s location in Mayflower was evacuated after a woman claimed she had the virus.
“One of the ladies who was here today, charged with some minor drug offenses, got sick while she was here,” Mayflower City Attorney David Hogue explained.
“And while people were trying to assist her, she said that she thought she might have coronavirus. She explained that she had been on a plane recently and she got an email from the airline that she flew on that said that they were learning that somebody on the airplane may have had coronavirus.”
Hogue said that the woman, Celia Hill, had merely told someone that she might have the virus, courtroom staff would have quietly seen her through her scheduled hearing and sent her home. But, because she was physically ill, the district judge saw no alternative but to evacuate everyone from the building.
“That meant,” Jon Swanson said, “that the protocol needed to be implemented, which we did.”
Swanson, executive director of MEMS, said he was proud of the way his ambulance crew communicated with supervisors, the Arkansas Department of Health, and Baptist Hospital staff, as that is the hospital Hill preferred.
While fear about coronavirus is relatively new, Swanson said MEMS personnel did not need any unique training for it.
“We know every day that we encounter patients who may have flu or other illnesses that are of concern to us,” he stated, “so our normal procedures are to anticipate the potential of exposures of a disease of some sort.
“Paramedics and EMTs are trained to wear gloves, to wear gowns when appropriate, to wear eye protection and masks when it’s appropriate. But also, to decon the unit, clean the truck after every patient contact.”
Hill said she had been to a doctor recently and had blood drawn, but test results had not come back yet to prove whether she had coronavirus. By Wednesday afternoon, doctors had cleared her, and Mayflower police officers arrested her. She was booked into the Faulkner County jail and charged with Contempt of Court.
“I, as the prosecutor, will charge her with causing everything that she’s caused today,” Hogue said.
Swanson said he had recently purchased additional stock of face masks and gowns that medics can wear, as well as cleaning supplies to disinfect ambulances. He added that there are standard procedures for dealing with patients who may be contagious, including cleaning the ambulance between each patient contact.
He said lessons from outbreaks such as SARS and Ebola have informed the training practices of EMS operators around the country. He added that we are in the middle of flu season, so it is important for everyone to take precautions.
“Frequent hand-washing is key to keeping everybody healthy,” he mentioned.
Everyone who was scheduled to appear before the judge Wednesday whose hearings were postponed will need to return to court March 11.