Bloomington firefighter tests positive for COVID-19

In a statement released Saturday evening (March 28), the city of Bloomington has confirmed it learned earlier the same day that a Bloomington firefighter has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to the press release, the firefighter was one of three firefighters recently quarantined after potential or confirmed exposure to the COVID-10. It was five days earlier, on March 23, when BFD was notified of the firefighter’s confirmed exposure.

And at that point, the firefighter was immediately isolated from on-duty crews and placed on self-quarantine at home, according to the press release.

The department decontaminated the station, equipment, and vehicles that were potentially infected by the firefighter, according to the release.

According to the release, the firefighter who tested positive for COVID-19 has shown mild symptoms and is expected to make a full recovery. The firefighter will return to work after being cleared by a doctor, the release says.

The department has traced the firefighter’s contacts within the department and is working to identify any members of the public who might have been exposed by the firefighter, according to the release.

The other employees who were exposed are currently self-quarantining at home are not showing symptoms, according the the release. Assuming a doctor approves it, all three are expected to return to work by April 7, according to the release.

If the COVID-19 positive firefighter is a resident of Monroe County, they will eventually be included, if not already, in the tally for the county on the Indiana State Department of Health dashboard. On Saturday morning, 16 cumulative confirmed cases were indicated for Monroe County on the dashboard.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indiana has about doubled (x 1.9) in two days, from 645 on March 26 to 1,232 on Saturday, March 28. The number of tests has increased by a similar factor, for the same period, from 4,651 to 8,407.

In the same two-day period, the number of Hoosiers killed by COVID-19 almost doubled, from 17 to 31.