Fountain Hills Rural/Metro Fire Chief Dave Ott had high praise for the community and staff response to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency in a presentation to the Town Council May 5.

Ott serves as the community emergency management director and has been actively involved in working with the emergency operations unified command system with state and county health officials.

The unified command structure was established for the emergency on March 17, however, Ott said everyone was working together prior to that to assure readiness.

“We were pretty well set to handle the stay at home order when it came down,” Ott said.

He had praise for town Community Services Director Rachael Goodwin and her staff in handling the expanding needs of Home Delivered Meals and the Give-a-Lift program (see separate story).

“Overall we have done a very good job as a town,” Ott said.

He noted that emergency responders have had adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) available from an emergency stockpile as well as having access to supplies Rural/Metro Corp. has on hand.

Ott noted from a positive perspective that world-wide 1.2 million people have recovered from coronavirus. He said here in Fountain Hills the number of cases has remained stable at 27.

Vice Mayor Mike Scharnow asked Ott whether he had any knowledge of the situation at the local assisted living facilities. Ott said he had no information regarding any cases. He did note that one person who tested positive for the virus was transported from Fountain Hills.

“Our crews and personnel remain healthy,” Ott said.

He noted that as statewide “blitz” testing begins numbers are expected to go up; however, there still remain some questions regarding the reliability of the tests.

Councilman David Spelich asked if there was an opportunity for public safety personnel to be tested.

Ott said the parent company of Rural/Metro, which is nationwide and includes emergency response and transport operations along the east coast, has not required the testing of personnel.

“The medical director [for the company] wants a better idea of the effectiveness of the antibody testing,” Ott said.

Councilman Alan Magazine said he had a similar conversation with his primary care physician, saying the doctor expressed concerns regarding the reliability.

Ott said the unified emergency operations center remains open and they are meeting regularly for updates although not as frequent as they were initially.