The co-occurrence of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic creates complex dilemmas for protecting populations from these intersecting threats. Climate change is likely contributing to stronger, wetter, slower-moving, and more dangerous hurricanes. Climate-driven hazards underscore the imperative for timely warning, evacuation, and sheltering of storm-threatened populations – proven life-saving protective measures that gather evacuees together inside durable enclosed spaces when a hurricane approaches. Meanwhile, the rapid acquisition of scientific knowledge regarding how COVID-19 spreads has guided mass anti-contagion strategies including lockdowns, sheltering-at-home, physical distancing, donning personal protective equipment, conscientious hand washing, and hygiene practices. These life-saving strategies, credited with preventing millions of COVID-19 cases, separate and move people apart. Enforcement coupled with fear of contracting COVID-19 have motivated high levels of adherence to these stringent regulations. How will populations react when warned to shelter from an oncoming Atlantic hurricane while COVID-19 is actively circulating in the community? Emergency managers, healthcare providers, and public health preparedness professionals must create viable solutions to confront these potential scenarios: elevated rates of hurricane-related injury and mortality among persons who refuse to evacuate due to fear of COVID-19, and resurgence of COVID-19 cases among hurricane evacuees who shelter together.

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Population Mental Health Consequences Observations Of Clinic Clinicians On DutyThe public health clinic closed before the storm, with the exception of the emergency unit. A skeleton staff of about a dozen personnel remained on the premises or bivouacked in separate staff quarters uphill from the clinic. These