GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — The COVID-19 spread is causing several challenges for emergency services in both Guilford and Forsyth Counties. One major issue leaders are facing deals with staffing.
Both agencies are dealing with more than 20 open positions they are trying to fill.
"COVID has impacted us on a daily basis," Deputy Director of Emergency Services in Guilford County Kyle Paschal said.
"Our biggest thing right now is focusing on prevention and keeping our employees healthy," Forsyth County Chief of Emergency Services Daren Ziglar said.
Two agencies, Guilford County Emergency Services, and Forysth County Emergency Services are facing similar challenges.
"The impact we are seeing from omicron has been it has worsened our personnel shortage," Paschal said. "We have not seen a significant spike in our call volume because of omicron."
Paschal said while their call volume has stabilized, staffing is still a work in progress.
"We currently have 26 open positions out of 205 full-time positions, so we are about 10% down right now," Paschal said.
With COVID-19 still spreading, keeping employees safe is a major priority.
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"We are still working on our personnel shortages, yesterday we had four positives, which is consistent with the average population, so we are not immune to covid anymore than anyone else is," Paschal said.
Ziglar said call volume is still high for them in Forsyth County.
"Over the Christmas weekend between Friday and basically Monday morning, we saw about 460 calls which is a daily average that's still very busy," Ziglar said.
They have more than 20 open positions, but Ziglar said it is slowly improving.
