Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said in a press conference on Friday that his department had no warning of Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to close all non-essential businesses and only learned about from news outlets Thursday night.
Mr. Wolf’s call to close all “non-life sustaining” businesses in Pennsylvania took effect Thursday night at 8 p.m.
“Like many people, we saw it on the news last night,” Chief Schubert said. “We have not had the level of communication that I think a lot of us on the law enforcement side wish we would have had.”
Despite the lack of warning, Chief Schubert said that he will work with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office and other police departments around Pittsburgh to discuss how to enforce the order in the coming weeks.
When asked about a potential curfew or mandatory stay-home order as the virus spreads, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said that there are no plans for either at this time, but that the situation is “changing hourly.”
Along with Chief Schubert and Mr. Hissrich, Pittsburgh EMS Chief Ron Romano and Assistant EMS Chief Mark Pinchalk also spoke at the press conference to update the public on the changes in procedures that first responders will adopt as the virus continues to spread.
They said that public safety workers in Pittsburgh will largely communicate with the public over social media and that they will rely on traditional media to reach out to seniors and those without access to the internet.
Mr. Hissrich then reiterated Chief Schubert’s Facebook post earlier this week, in which the chief highlighted his department’s plans to increase the use of Telephone Reporting Units for minor crimes, so that in-person contact between officers and the public will be safely limited.
He also said that first responders will receive constant training from EMS personnel regarding safety procedures and that animal care workers will suspend non-emergency protocols like trappings.
“I want to reassure the public that despite these measures, we’re out there and that we’ll help whenever we can,” Chief Schubert said.
Chief Romano said that EMS workers will also emphasize assessing people with minor injuries or those with concerns that they may be infected over the phone, so as to limit the amount of person-to-person contact and non-emergency cases brought to hospitals.
To that effect, Mr. Hissrich recommended that those wishing to ‘ride-along’ with friends and loved-ones to hospitals should drive separately if possible.
When asked what public safety departments were doing internally to limit the spread of the virus, Assistant Chief Pinchalk said that there are “robust personal protection” measures for first responders.
Among those he listed were caches of N95 masks, gloves, goggles and protocols to maintain social distancing around potentially infected people.
Assistant Chief Pinchalk said that even though they have plenty of supplies, he is skeptical about whether those caches will be resupplied within the next six to eight weeks, so public safety personnel will conserve and reuse those tools when possible.
Mr. Hissrich and Chief Schubert also warned of scammers attempting to take advantage of the situation by coercing people into giving up their credit card and Social Security numbers.
“We understand that there is a lot of fear out there, but we’re from Pittsburgh,” Chief Schubert said. “We’re Pittsburgh strong and we’ll get through this together.”
Nick Trombola: 412-263-1707, ntrombola@post-gazette.com
First Published: March 20, 2020, 4:08 p.m.