Glenn E. Rice
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Visitation and funeral services have been scheduled for a Kansas City fire captain and a communications specialist who both died last weekend from COVID-19, Kansas City Fire Department officials announced Tuesday.
Captain Robert “Bobby” Rocha, a 29-year veteran with the department, died Saturday after contracting COVID-19. A drive-through visitation for Rocha is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m., Sunday at the McGilley Antioch Chapel, 3325 NE Vivion Road, Kansas City.
Visitors will be able to sign the registration book and pay their respects to the family.
The funeral service is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., Monday at the McGilley chapel but will be closed to the public due to COVID-19 limitations. However, the service will be livestreamed and viewable on the McGilley Antioch Chapel Facebook page.
The burial will take place at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 7601 Blue Ridge Blvd. in Kansas City following the funeral services.
Rocha, 59, began with the fire department in 1991 and was promoted to the rank of captain in May 2013. He was assigned to Station 18 at 3211 Indiana Avenue.
The visitation and funeral service for Scott Davidson, who died Sunday morning from COVID-19 will be held in Wichita. The visitation is scheduled to take place from 4 to 7 p.m., Friday at the Lakeview Funeral Home & Lakeview Cemetery, 12100 E. 13th St. N.
Funeral and graveside services are scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Crossroads Baptist Church, 11441 E. Central Ave.
Davidson, 45, had been with the Fire Department for 18 years and had previously worked as a paramedic. He was the third member of the Fire Department to died from the coronavirus, according to fire officials.
In April, fire department EMT Billy Birmingham was the first person who died in what Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said was the “line of duty” in the coronavirus outbreak.
Since the pandemic began, 176 members of the fire department have tested positive for COVID-19. As of Saturday, 73 were still infected.
Kansas City Fire Chief Donna Lake announced a mask mandate for all members of the department on Oct. 16 after noticing another spike in cases. Firefighters and EMTs had already been required to wear masks when coming in contact with patients.
Last Monday, Lucas announced that all Kansas City police officers, first responders and other essential workers will be required to wear face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as part of a new public health order.
The new guidelines went into effect Nov. 20.
On Tuesday, the Kansas City metro added nearly 1,000 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths as hospitals in the region continued to reported record numbers of patients being treated for the virus..
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas has a total of 75,907 cases and 954 deaths to date.
___
(c)2020 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)