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The year 2020 long will be remembered for being a turbulent year. No other in recent history spawned so many challenges for the fire service, and dispatch was far from immune. As field personnel coped with how to best respond during an epidemic, dispatchers dealt with the new reality of infection control in the communications center. The typical PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) is rife with the potential to spread germs: a confined space, which often has questionable ventilation, where telecommunicators literally sit elbow to elbow for 12 or more hours at a time, communally sharing devices, such as keyboards and chairs, and repeatedly touching common surfaces, including console surfaces, monitors, telephones and controls. In some smaller centers, headsets even might be passed from person to person during shift change…
