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Vacaville, Calif. police chief John Carli joined “The Story with Martha MacCallum” Wednesday to discuss protecting America’s first responders during the coronavirus outbreak.
“I’m so thankful for, at the local level, the health care providers that saw needs [and] found a way to create a streamlined approach to screening and then also testing so that we can keep our first responders on the front line helping everyone else that’s in need,” Carli said. “It’s happening in real time. And if you recall, Vacaville was the first [recorded case of] community spread in the nation. So we’ve seen this for over four weeks, have been trying to put in plans to make sure that our first responders are safe.”
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Carli pleaded with officials to prioritize testing first responders last week during a conference call with the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that was meant to inform and offer resources to police chiefs nationwide.
“Stop testing NBA players, and start testing our first responders,” Carli said at the time.
On Wednesday, Carli told MacCallum that the Trump administration was “really trying” to hear the concerns of first responders.
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“I believe that the task force that the president and Vice President Pence are working on are really trying to listen to what the first responders are needing on the front line,” Carli said. “When we’re trying to adapt to an emergency like this, we think about a public safety crisis, even though this started as a public health crisis and we’re all in it together. So we look at hand sanitizers, masks, gloves, everything we can to employ the best possible personal protection for first responders.”
“And as long as these lines of communication are open, I believe that we’re going to continue to see the evolving change to make sure that our first responders are safe,” Carli added.
