Because of the nature of their work, firefighters, police and EMTs continue to risk contracting COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. But an effort is underway to create laws that would treat those infections like any other workplace-related injury.
State Sen. Michael Moore (D-Worcester) has introducedlegislation that would presume first responders who contract COVID-19 were infected on the job. That would allow them to keep collecting a full paycheck while they recover, without using their sick days.
"Providing them with the coverage, where they're going to see 100 percent of their pay due to their exposure to this, I don't think that's asking a lot," Moore said.
It's not really a new idea. For the last several sessions, Sen. Nick Collins (D-Dorchester, South Boston, Mattapan, Hyde Park) has introducedsimilar legislation related to any infectious disease, automatically making the presumption first responders were exposed on the job. That bill has been introduced again, and Collins said that this time, the pandemic could make a difference.
"I think [COVID] has brought more attention on their risk and what they are exposed to and what we should be doing to protect them and their families," Collins said.
Max McKinnon is one of those first responders. The 27-year-old Boston EMT was infected with COVID near the very start of the pandemic a year ago. He is sure he was exposed on the job, he said. It wasn’t too bad at first, and he managed to go back to work in about a week. But 10 months later, in early January, he started feeling short of breath.
"Sweating through the sheets. Body pains all over,” he said. “If I tried to take a deep breath, I’d get sent into a coughing fit so bad that I’d start throwing up.”
McKinnon was admitted to Mass General Hospital for 20 days, including a week in the intensive care unit, he said. He tested negative for COVID-19 this time, but he said his doctors thought his symptoms were probably related to his initial infection last year.
"They definitely thought COVID was a big factor," he said.
In McKinnon’s case, Boston did provide time off for first responders who got COVID-19, but he burned through that and all his sick time.
“If I was on the job and I broke my leg, I wouldn’t have had to use any sick time,” he said.
McKinnon has made a worker’s compensation claim related to his infection. But Mike MacNeil, president of the EMS Division of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said he shouldn't have to go though that.
"To have to go through that extra step to prove that you did it while you were working on an ambulance, on the front of the front lines against this pandemic, I think that's a sign of disrespect, in a way," MacNeil said.
A statewide law is necessary because not every city and town treats first responders the same way, said Rich McKinnon, president of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts (no relation to Max McKinnon, the EMT).
"Why should one firefighter that works here have certain rights and benefits — they're dealing with the same type of incidents, exposures and things — and another firefighter that has either a tough fire chief or bad city manager doesn't?” Rich McKinnon asked.
But treating infectious disease like on-the-job injuries could result in significant costs to already cash-strapped cities and towns — something that could put up a roadblock to getting both bills through the state legislature.
For one thing, state law mandates that cities or towns are fully responsible for paying the medical expenses of first responders who are put on injured-on-duty status. In those cases, the municipality pays those medical expenses directly.
“Even though communities had already purchased health insurance plans and the insurance companies are supposed to cover those costs," said Geoff Beckwith, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Senator Michael Moore said shifting those medical expenses from insurance companies to the municipalities themselves was actually an unintended consequence of his bill as it's written, and he's open to changing it so that added expense isn’t put on cities and towns.
Even so, it's also difficult to know if a first responders got infected on the job or not, Beckwith said.
"It's spread primarily community wide, in daily activities, in family groups," he said.
Since first responders were among the first in the state to have access to the vaccine, Beckwith said they should now be more protected from the virus than the general public.
In Max McKinnon’s case, he’s now vaccinated, and he’s back on the job responding to emergency calls. He's waiting to find out if his workers comp claim is approved, he said, so he can get his sick days back.
Correction: This story has been corrected to omit an erroneous statement that Max McKinnon went without pay after his sick days ran out. Boston EMS says that wasn't the case, and McKinnon now says he was mistaken when he told that to GBH News.
