Not many people—and certainly not many political staffers—would expose themselves to the risks undertaken by front-line medical workers during the coronavirus pandemic. And really, who could blame them? The virus has wiped out 26,130 people in New York alone, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But one political staffer was willing to face the threat head on. Matt Klapper, Sen. Cory Booker's chief of staff, has been splitting his time in a most honorable way: fighting for benefits for emergency medical technicians, and volunteering with them directly as a first responder, according to The New York Times.
”I’ve known Matt for 20 yrs,” Booker tweeted Thursday. “His commitment to helping others inspires me everyday. I hope this inspires you. And the rumors are true—he’s Batman.”
New Jersey has reported 133,635 coronavirus cases and 8,801 related deaths, a per capita rate of infection that is higher than that of the epicenter of the virus, New York City, The Hill reported. Mike Bascom, New Jersey's task force leader for emergency medical services, told the Times the pandemic has led to such a spike in ambulance calls that New Jersey didn't have enough emergency medical service providers.
“I’m putting out a call for volunteers with qualified medical training and experience who wish to join our fight against coronavirus," Gov. Phil Murphy said March 27 at a coronavirus briefing. “This isn’t just for New Jersey residents either. We’re looking across our nation for help.”
Klapper, a married father with a 17-month-old son, is from New Jersey, like Booker, and formerly worked as an ambulance crew chief and firefighter in the state. He happily volunteered in the northern New Jersey town of Springfield. “Matt felt a sense of duty to come back and help,” Bascom told the Times.
Klapper moved into a friend's pool house to avoid exposing his family to the virus and took on a grueling double-duty load. In his volunteer work, he helps sterilize ambulances, answers emergency calls, and monitors patient data, The New York Times reported. He also manages to find time to pick up groceries for his parents and have dinner with his own family, who he sees through a window from his home’s deck.
Klapper told The New York Times he has been able to see first hand how the virus is hurting people. “There are millions of first responders who are going to be answering these calls for months, if not longer,” he said. “This is something that doesn’t stop at the door of work. It is going to come home.”
Democratic Sen. Brian Schat called Klapper “a genuine mensch.” Schat told The New York Times: “Someone with his chops, especially in Washington, who does something like that — you would expect them to work it into every other sentence, and he just doesn’t do that.”
The congressional aide also doesn’t slack in his day job. He does his part in assessing the federal needs of states most impacted by the coronavirus and helps manage Booker’s Washington office in its move to remote work. Most of his recent tweets are dedicated to sharing stories of front-line workers.
On Tuesday, Klapper applauded legislation Booker and Sen. Chuck Grassley introduced to support the families of those workers after their deaths. “We've lost at least 27 first responders to COVID-19 in NJ in the past 5 weeks & many more across the country,” Klapper tweeted. “This bill will prevent their families from having to prove the unprovable - that these first responders got sick on the job - and support them in their time of need.”