Natural Disasters & COVID-19: Resources for Professionals & Emergency Workers

Hurricane Key Messages: COVID-19 Annex: this resource provides public messaging to help people safely prepare, evacuate, and shelter for severe storms while protecting themselves and others from COVID-19. Public health and emergency management partners can add these public messages as a resource to their communication plans that address hazards expected from extreme weather involving strong wind and high water. Partners can also use these messages to develop products with protective information for diverse audiences before, during, and after a hurricane, flood, or similar disaster.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Scenarios: Disaster Shelters pdf icon[PDF – 86 KB]: The scenarios in this document can be used by trainers and team leads to build skills for contact tracers. Staff in training and newly trained staff can use these scenarios to role-play how they would interview contacts, find out if they have any barriers to self-quarantine, and address those barriers. Specific scripts based on these scenarios should incorporate jurisdiction-specific processes and resources.

Emergency Shelters in Disaster Response in Global, Low Resource Settings: this document provides suggestions that can be considered by emergency shelter staff in low-resource settings and can be adapted to follow national or local guidelines, and to account for local context. Local populations can be engaged in the planning and decision-making process by identifying trusted stakeholders and community leaders to provide feedback on proposed mitigation measures before their implementation.

Environmental Health Assessment Form for Disaster Shelters: this tool assists environmental health practitioners in conducting a rapid assessment of shelter conditions during emergencies and disasters. This tool can be modified to meet local needs during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency.

Generic Plans for COVID-19 Specimen Testing and Management During a Hurricane: this webpage offers considerations for what clinical laboratories testing for COVID-19 need to include in their plans to ensure that testing continues if their laboratory operations are impaired during hurricane season.

Public Health Strategies to Reduce Exposure to Wildfire Smoke during the COVID-19 Pandemic: this webpage provides information about wildfire preparedness and response during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended for use by public health, environmental health, and air quality personnel in federal, state, territorial, local, and tribal jurisdictions in the United States.