A few weeks ago, we went through something that was a huge challenge. We saw a major, major uptick in the number of calls to 9-1-1, a level we had never seen in our history. The records that were set were the records you never want to set, the most calls to 9-1-1 ever. FDNY held the line, EMS held the line. Our EMTs and paramedics worked long hours. They saved a lot of lives. They fought back. There's no question that we are not out of the woods yet. But the numbers are coming down substantially and getting much closer to normal.
March 30, we got 6,527 medical emergencies in one day. Never seen anything like that. By this last Saturday, April 18th, the number was down to 3,485. So, not quite half, but getting close to half the number of calls that came in just about three weeks earlier. When you compare that to the average day last year, it was actually below the average. The average last year was 4,196 on a typical day. So, thank God, that number has come way down.
Obviously, the most urgent life and death calls got prioritized, but if you take the average in March, that average was just over 10 minutes on the response time. In the last two weeks, it's gone down to eight minutes, 46 seconds. Now, on Saturday, April 18th, that went down to six minutes, 43 seconds. Many fewer calls, much faster response time, thank God for that.
Also, the number of FDNY personnel who had been on sick leave continues to go down. 1,446. EMS has now almost a thousand members who have returned from dealing with COVID-19 and we see the number of folks on sick leave going down. Long way to go, but real progress for sure.
Back to COVID-19: NYC Resources
This page © 2020 Barry Drogin