CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County Metro 911 employee has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Metro 911 said in a release on Friday afternoon protocols have been in place to prevent what would eventually occur.
“We had in place a sophisticated febrile detection system and the employee did not enter the 911 Center,” a release said.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department implemented their much-practiced contact tracing program and in real-time and immediately began working with Metro 911 to determine who had been working with the employee in the 911 Center and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the past 72 hours. Employees were immediately contacted.
Drive-up and onsite testing were immediately scheduled for all potential contacts, Metro 911 said.
The Kanawha County Commission worked with the Kanawha County Office of Emergency Management, the City of Charleston Emergency Management, Metro 911 and the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department before the pandemic hit the State of West Virginia and planned for a situation such as this, a release said.
“The 911 system will stay in operation and the phones WILL be answered. Operations will not stop. Months ago we implemented a robust, multiple teared plan for a potential situation like this,” stated Commission President Kent Carper in a release.