Bill Kirk
The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
ESSEX COUNTY, Mass. — Methuen Fire Chief Tim Sheehy and Lawrence fire Chief Brian Moriarty have both tested positive for COVID-19.
Sheehy confirmed Friday that he has COVID-19 and will be homebound until at least late next week.
Sheehy said he and his girlfriend invited two neighbors over for Thanksgiving only to find out by Saturday that his neighbor had been exposed to the disease at a local gym before the holiday — and then tested positive.
“We had neighbors come over and one of them had it and didn’t know it,” said Sheehy, who said he’s been feeling pretty miserable all week. “I’m lucky — I’ve been short of breath, coughing, and have an off and on fever.”
One of his relatives, meanwhile, was hospitalized with blood clots in his lungs. Sheehy said most of his immediate family members now have the disease as a result of him.
“It sucks,” said Sheehy, coughing repeatedly over the phone. The only bright side is that since everyone has it, they are all quarantining together in the house.
Moriarty said he was getting ready to go into surgery when he “turned up positive.” However, Moriarty said he is “asymptomatic. I don’t feel sick. I feel good.”
The Haverhill resident said he has no idea how he contracted the disease.
“I wore a mask all the time, l separated from others, I don’t know how I got it,” he said. “I was really conscientious. My wife and I were home alone for Thanksgiving. We’ve been following the rules.”
He added: “It’s a pandemic. You have to be careful.”
He said that since he was planning on being out for surgery anyway, a plan was already in place for him to be absent.
So far, the department as a whole has been doing OK.
“We’ve consistently had two or three sick, now there are three of us, including me,” he said. “We are functioning. It could be a lot worse.”
The numbers of COVID-positive cases is exploding across the country, the state and the region. In the Merrimack Valley, Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen are considered to be in the highest category of infection.
Methuen Mayor Neil Perry said Methuen has a 7.5% positive test rate, followed Haverhill with a 6% rate. The highest in the region is Lawrence, where 14% of residents have tested positive.
“The state set two records this week of COVID-positive cases,” he noted. “It’s everywhere. Every time you go out of your daily living circle, you are increasing your risk.”
Sheehy said ironically, first-responders are seeing less and less of the disease being transmitted to them because their protocols for wearing personal protective equipment, or PPE, is so strict.
He said that at the start of the pandemic in March, quite a few firefighters were hit by the disease.
Now, however, “We pick people up all the time who are COVID-positive but we wear masks and gloves and shields so we haven’t had a problem. No one gets it at work.”
He noted: “Masks work. In the stations, everyone wears masks.”
Other than having two people over for Thanksgiving lunch, he had been very careful.
“We mixed with two people that day,” he said. “What are the chances? Everyone’s getting it. Every time I turn around somebody else has it.”
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(c)2020 The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)