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Corona in the USA: hurricane season meets pandemic - experts fear the worst

2020-06-05T22:57:20.449Z


In the United States, the storm season will soon come to the corona pandemic. Disaster relief workers are now planning anew - the old strategies should no longer work.


In the United States, the storm season will soon come to the corona pandemic. Disaster relief workers are now planning anew - the old strategies should no longer work.

  • In addition to the corona pandemic * , the United States is also shaken by unrest after the death of George Floyd .
  • The country's hurricane season also begins in June - and is expected to be difficult this year. 
  • US civil protection  officers are under pressure to revise their  emergency plans  - and criticize the Trump * government.

The United States recently broke the 100,000 mark in the number of deaths related to Covid-19 * . In the police brutality protests after the death of the Black George Floyd  see some potential "super-spreading" events. And now the weather could worsen the pandemic in the US: The hurricane season officially begins in the country on June 1 .

Jerome Adams , United States medical inspector, warned on Twitter: "Prepare for this season more fully during the pandemic."

#Hurricane season starts today, # June1st. During the # COVID19 pandemic, give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medical supplies.

Learn more: https://t.co/kbqrNA6wxP. pic.twitter.com/2EXnwhfuXn

- US Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) June 1, 2020

Corona and severe weather: US fire department warns of "terrible combination"

US authorities fear that Sars-CoV-2 infections will increasingly occur in emergency accommodation - mostly sports stadiums or school gyms - for those affected by tropical cyclones . The city of New York , according to the US magazine Politico , is now investing $ 55 million in air conditioning for low-income senior citizens - to keep them away from public, air-conditioned rooms that were actually specially designed for the usual heat waves in the United States . But a lot is different in the pandemic.

The Colorado fire department is revising its bush fire strategy, the report says, fearing a “terrible combination” of two natural forces: severe weather and virus.  

Corona in the US: Civil Protection Agency turns to President Trump

The local US authorities are therefore also concerned that the US civil protection agency FEMA and the National Guard are currently heavily affected by the nationwide health crisis.

Colorado State University (CSU) meteorologists  expect an increased likelihood that the U.S. state of Florida  will be hit by at least one severe hurricane in the summer of 2020  . FEMA boss Peter Gaynor informed US President Donald Trump * last week that his agency was already facing a "historical" number of disasters this year, Politico said .

Pandemic in the USA: helpers rehearse for the hurricane-corona emergency

Other concerns of the civil protectionists and municipal administrations: Volunteers could be absent for fear of being infected during the operation. Local politicians fear that they will not receive help from neighboring countries that are themselves fully involved in combating the pandemic.

Emergency preparedness also wonders how it can communicate the correct behavior to evacuators during pandemic times. "We are concerned that people fear relocation for fear of infection," Politico quotes Trevor Riggen, President of the Red Cross Disaster Relief Service .

FEMA published guidelines for behavior during storms in a pandemic last week  ; a checklist that went to states and local authorities. A FEMA spokesman said the report said the agency had increased food rations and medical supplies across the country . More than 3100 employees would be briefed for the hurricane corona emergency. 

Corona in the USA - Health experts: "Our government agencies are ..."

There are many efforts, but members of the public health system are also critical. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University in New York told Politico : "Our government agencies are not nearly as cooperative as people think." 

Other people affected see the impending storms pragmatically, for example a woman from Colorado, who is currently preparing for the hurricane season with her husband. "You have to save yourself from the immediate danger first, and that's the weather," she told US radio station NPR. "The Corona pandemic can then be dealt with." 

In addition, unrest has broken out in the United States after the death of an African American - an autopsy now confirms the serious allegations of violence against police officers.

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* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © AFP / ALEX EDELMA N

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-06-05

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