LYNN — Saturday, those who saw themselves as either lacking in personal protective equipment or perhaps running low on it got the opportunity to stock up or to restock.
Members of the Lynn Patrolmen’s and Firefighters unions were at Lynn Tech to distribute care kits to help people maintain safe social distancing as we enter the third month of the COVID-19 precautions being taken throughout the commonwealth and nation.
The kits, which included masks, sanitizing supplies, personal care items and educational materials, were supplied by the North Shore Medical Center in Salem.
Lynn Fire Lt. Joseph Zukas said roughly 4,000 kits were distributed in the three-hour session in the Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute’s parking lot.
Zukas said the instructional material included information on how to sanitize surfaces, and the importance of washing your hands frequently.
Also on hand were personnel from the city’s emergency management department.
“This definitely helps,” said Zukas. “The more masks we can get out in public, and the more people use them, and the more we promote social distancing, the better off we all are.”
Zukas said that the one lesson people should learn from this pandemic is the importance of good hygiene habits.
“I read, before this pandemic even started, that if more people washed their hands regularly they could cut down on cases of the flu by 50 percent. That’s pretty remarkable.
“People should be more cognizant that they should wash their hands,” he said. “Maybe this crisis will get people to practice better hygiene, washing hands, things like that. This virus seems to be more contagious than the regular flu, so it should be an eye-opener for a lot of people to change their lifestyles. I’m not in people’s homes, so I don’t know what they do. But wherever we are, whether it’s riding public transportation, Red Sox games, anyplace like that, it would be good if people washed their hands. Maybe after this, people will carry hand sanitizers in their cars, or bags.”
Zukas said between 60 and 70 percent of all fire department calls involve medical situations of all varieties, and that in the last two months, between 500 and 600 of those calls have been COVID-19 related.
