Relief Shelters Present New Coronavirus Concerns

Relief shelters have traditionally been thought of as safe havens for displaced natural disaster victims, but thanks to COVID-19, these locations, which are typically setup in schools, churches, convention centers, and other large spaces, are now being viewed differently.  Because these shelters tend to be tightly packed, any virus, much less one as contagious as COVID-19, can spread like wildfire.  We’ve all seen this phenomenon in action recently, with locations like prisons and cruise ships essentially becoming gigantic petri dishes. 

Can Relief Shelters be Fortified to Minimize the Spread of Disease?

The Red Cross generally runs the majority of the relief shelters in the US.  The organization recently published new guidelines designed to tamp down the spread of disease within these facilities, including:

• Screening everyone prior to entry by taking their temperature
• Checking the temperature of existing occupants 3 times a day
• Isolating people who show symptoms of being sick
• Making sure cots are placed 6 feet apart
• Upping cleaning and sanitation protocols. 

On the surface, the Red Cross’ new protocols seem reasonable, but unfortunately, as we have learned with the coronavirus, infected people do not always show symptoms.  This makes the threat much different than a natural disaster – it’s invisible. 

The only reasonable alternative is to place people in hotels, but obviously this is not always feasible due to the high cost of hotel rooms, the inconsistent availability of hotel space, and the logistical problems associated with feeding people who are spread out. 

Simply put, there is no easy solution.  No matter how hard we try, people in relief shelters are more likely to be exposed to contagions than the general population.  And it’s not just relief shelters that can throw gasoline on the pandemic fire – emergency response efforts require a lot of people to be in close proximity to each other, which means any disaster that occurs during a pandemic is likely to have broad, cascading negative effects on the people involved, both victims and responders. 

Hopefully, the COVID-19 crisis will illuminate lessons learned and best practices that can be used going forward to reduce the spread of disease within relief shelters.  And hopefully, these lessons will be applicable to utility emergency responders who are also at risk.