Applying the Lessons of Crisis Mitigation from Coronavirus to Natural Disasters
Yesterday, ConservAmerica’s president Jeff Kupfer penned an op-ed along with our friends Stephen Pociask (CEO of the American Consumer Institute), Collin O’Mara (CEO of the National Wildlife Federation), and Eli Lehrer (the President of R Street).
At a time when our nation is in the midst of a global pandemic, Americans can’t afford for another disaster to strike. The effects of natural catastrophes are no secret – we’ve seen the impacts of last year’s California wildfires and the intensifying hurricanes that regularly plague the southeast coasts. What we have yet to experience, however, are how to manage disaster relief efforts look like while simultaneously fighting a global health pandemic.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency at the frontlines of every disaster including COVID-19, has advised its first responders to implement social distancing among disaster victims, limiting the number of victims that can be treated in field offices to a maximum of four at a time. In Tennessee and Iowa, springtime tornados have ravaged communities, leaving many local officials bewildered as to how to appropriately respond without risking further exposure to the virus. This becomes especially difficult due to the lack of available COVID-19 tests across the country. These complexities will only further intensify as more natural disasters strike, all while shelters face the immense task of housing victims six feet apart.
Read the full article at The Hill.