U.S. Disaster Response Scrambles To Protect People From Both Hurricanes And COVID-19

With peak hurricane season yet to come, southeast communities are grappling with uncertainty over whether it's possible to evacuate to shelters without risking coronavirus exposure.

A powerful storm could uproot tens of thousands of people at a time when coronavirus infections and deaths from COVID-19 are soaring through the region. Congregate shelters, from school gyms to vast convention centers, risk becoming infection hot spots if evacuees pack into them. Many shelters are managed by the American Red Cross under the supervision of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the Red Cross intends to adhere to new guidelines based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's social distancing standards, which could cut shelter capacity by as much as 60%, according to local emergency managers.

In planning for a hurricane season that scientists expect to be unusually active, FEMA is scrambling to find ways to house the possible overflow of evacuees from crowded shelters and is urging emergency managers to consider hotels left vacant by the economic downturn as a key alternative.

Yet many emergency managers are unsure how — or even if — to incorporate hotels into their evacuation plans.