Because of the nature of their work, firefighters, police and EMTs continue to risk contracting COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. But an effort is underway to create laws that would treat those infections like any other workplace-related injury.
State Sen. Michael Moore (D-Worcester) has introduced legislation that would presume first responders who contract COVID-19 were infected on the job. That would allow them to keep collecting a full paycheck while they recover, without using their sick days.
"Providing them with the coverage, where they're going to see 100 percent of their pay due to their exposure to this, I don't think that's asking a lot," Moore said.
It's not really a new idea. For the last several sessions, Sen. Nick Collins (D-Dorchester, South Boston, Mattapan, Hyde Park) has introduced similar legislation related to any infectious disease, automatically making the presumption first responders were exposed on the job.