BATON ROUGE- Paramedics are now prepping to wear new respirator masks on medical calls to better protect them against COVID-19.

In the fight against the novel coronavirus, EMS paramedics are on the front line.

A spokesperson for East Baton Rouge EMS, Mike Chustz, says having the appropriate protective equipment is a priority.

"We wear gowns, we wear face masks, we wear shoe covers and all that kind of stuff," said Chustz.

A group of 24 paramedics are a part of their COVID-19 response team. Each day they gear up with personal protective equipment as they respond to increasing calls to suspected COVID-19 positive patients. 

Wednesday, Chustz said these paramedics will soon hit the streets with new P-100 model respirator masks.

"This is an item that's used to protect paramedics and medical people from any substance they come across. That being the COVID-19 issue, to people with tuberculosis or things like that."

With a shortage of critical medical supplies across the globe and a steady rise in coronavirus cases in EBR, Chustz says EMS was quick to purchase 150 respirator masks to protect each medic from the virus. 

"We're hoping that we can continue our supply chain and continue to restock. We have not run out of anything that we needed currently, but you know, that can change if we get in a situation where we can no longer refill our inventory."

Chustz says people should continue to remain vigilant.

"When things like this go on for an extended period of time, people start to get complacent and they figure if they hadn't caught it by now then they're immune to it. But, we highly recommend people not do that."

Their team has responded 762 calls for potential COVID-19 patients since March.