Redmond fire chief, other leaders told to stay quiet about having coronavirus, sources say

The Eastside was the first hit by the coronavirus outbreak -- and Redmond fire command staff were among those who contracted the disease in March.

It remains unclear exactly how the virus reached the Redmond Fire command staff, including the chief, and four others leading the charge in coronavirus response for the city. Few people, including city council members, knew that five people on fire command staff had coronavirus in mid-March -- even though they had worked together at City Hall. That's because two of those command staff members were told by the chief operating officer not to share publicly that they had coronavirus, multiple sources told KUOW. Those two passed along the demand to the three others who were infected. Among the five were: Redmond Fire Chief Tommy Smith, emergency manager Pattijean Hooper, and deputy fire chief Don Horton. The command staff were not told why they should keep mum.

Redmond Mayor Angela Birney denied these claims to KUOW. Birney said it was up to Public Health to alert those who may have been exposed. It wasn't the city's job, she said. Birney said she was limited by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that she couldn’t require staff to inform her of their positive results, and couldn’t share the number of positives, even when withholding names, with people. Maxine Whattam, the chief operating officer, said through a spokesperson that she is not aware of the two command staff that shared they were told by Whattam not to circulate their positive coronavirus status. The city followed recommendations from King County Public Health, the CDC, and medical services officer Jim Whitney, regarding communication with staff that test positive for Covid-19 .

City Hall was ultimately shut down after the first two positive results were made public to staff in mid-March. Employees were asked to work from home. But staff and volunteers were not told if they had been exposed. For command staff, not telling their coworkers that they contracted coronavirus went against their mission: to save lives. If their coworkers didn't know they'd been exposed, they wouldn't know to look for signs of illness. They might spread it to family members. Two emergency management volunteers who spent time at City Hall voiced these concerns in emails to council members. “By not being honest, the city leadership is potentially endangering staff who may have been exposed and therefore the community at large," the volunteer wrote.

The email continued: “I’ve learned that at least two of those with positive test results were instructed by the Redmond chief operating officer Maxine Whattam not to tell anyone of their test results. "I personally had been working with these individuals shortly before their diagnoses but was unaware due to this instruction. I feel this was extremely negligent behavior on the part of a high-level city representative.” Another volunteer wrote by email that they were concerned about Covid-19 cases that went unreported, and that those who were exposed were not told to self-quarantine. “Some of my extended family members are immune-compromised," the second volunteer wrote. "I was forced to independently decide whether to self-quarantine.” An emergency volunteer KUOW spoke with was never told by the city or Public Health that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Few ever learned of the Covid-19 leadership changes that followed the diagnoses. They were made without the knowledge of city council. City leaders transferred command of Covid-19 response to the police department. They named Police Chief Darrell Lowe acting director in Smith's place, and made Lowe responsible for directing emergency operations. Cpt. Erik Scairpon filled in for Hooper. Since their removal, Hooper has been sidelined from coronavirus response, despite her experience responding to disasters. And Chief Smith was invited to operate under a unified command with the police chief. Councilmember Steve Fields, who ran against Mayor Birney in 2019, said he learned of the leadership change from the volunteer emails sent to the mayor and council. Fields said he noticed during his two years he had been on council that the former mayor John Marchione was proactive about alerting council to personnel changes.