Press

SHAVANO PARK, Texas – A group of Shavano Park firefighters returning from Paraguay said they spent 14 days quarantined before heading back to work.

The firefighters from the city of Shavano Park were in the South American country to train crews there.

“We had about 200 pounds of equipment that we were able to take that we couldn’t use here anymore at the fire department,” said Ivan Hernandez, captain paramedic of the Shavano Park Fire Department.

Hernandez and firefighter paramedic Samuel McKinnon said before they left to Paraguay, they checked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Embassy’s web sites.

“There were cases in Argentina, there were cases in Brazil, but there were no confirmed cases in Paraguay,” McKinnon said.

Full Screen

1 / 11

There are now dozens of COVID-19 cases in the South American country.

When the team returned home on March 17, Hernandez said they went through a 14-day quarantine period.

The three Shavano Park firefighters who went to Paraguay returned to work this week.

“We don’t have any symptoms, which is great, and we currently feel fine. By getting monitored every day, that’s actually a bonus for us, as well,” Hernandez said.

Anyone who enters the fire station gets their temperature checked and gets screened for COVID-19 symptoms.

“We were eager to come back, and yesterday was a great day, putting our boots on the ground and helping out as much as we could,” Hernandez said.

COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.

​

All rights reserved Copyright 2020 by KSAT - www.ksat.com

​

​