CLIMATE-DRIVEN ATLANTIC HURRICANES AND COVID-19 TRANSMISSION: MITIGATING BETWEEN THE CONCURRENT THREATS Written by Amanda Torres Published on July 29, 2020 Category: Faculty, Event In a paper published in the July issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, a multi-disciplinary group of experts have provided critical information on the intersection of climate-driven Atlantic hurricanes and COVID-19 transmission – highlighting the complexities and potential solutions to addressing these two threats. “Dealing with the potential for a hurricane strike while COVID-19 is actively circulating poses a dilemma. The proven mitigation approaches for hurricanes-evacuation and sheltering-huddle people together, while the most effective means for controlling the spread of COVID-19 prioritizes keeping people apart,” said James Shultz, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness (DEEP Center) at the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, who served as
lead author on the paper. As seen with Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and Hurricane Dorian in 2019, climate change has likely led to stronger, wetter, slower-moving, and more dangerous hurricanes. Now more than ever, it is crucial for storm-threatened populations to heed warnings, respond to evacuation orders, and shelter safely in well-fortified homes or community structures away from the coasts. However, these measures necessarily bring people into close proximity. To prevent COVID-19 transmission, on the other hand, effective strategies involve separating people – sheltering at home, physical distancing, shutdowns, and lockdowns, coupled with wearing masks, hand washing, and hygiene practices. These measures have been credited with preventing an estimated 60 million people from contracting COVID-19 in the United States. Now, experts are questioning how populations will react when warned to shelter from an oncoming Atlantic
hurricane – while COVID-19 is actively circulating in the community. Recently, Hurricane Hanna provided a glimpse and analyzing what happened to be helpful when planning for more powerful storms to come. Emergency managers, healthcare providers, and public health preparedness professionals should create viable solutions to confront these potential scenarios tom minimize the possibilities of increased rates of hurricane-related injury and mortality among persons who refuse to evacuate due to fear of COVID-19 and increased spread of COVID-19 cases among hurricane evacuees who shelter together. Improvising solutions to concurrent hurricane and pandemic threats in 2020 that were noted in the Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness paper include: »
Focus on the 2020 hurricane season. Experts predict that a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine may be available for popula-
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