Impacts of household vulnerability on hurricane logistics evacuation under COVID-19: The case of U.S. Hampton Roads.

Historical data suggest that when a severe tropical storm or hurricane impacts a community, the vulnerable segment of the population suffers the most severe consequences. With an increased aging population, it is crucial to understand how vulnerability alters evacuation behavior. Emergent variables such as fear of COVID-19 require additional exploration.

Participatory mapping to address neighborhood level data deficiencies for food security assessment in Southeastern Virginia, USA.

Background: Food is not equitably available. Deficiencies and generalizations limit national datasets, food security assessments, and interventions. Additional neighborhood level studies are needed to develop a scalable and transferable process to complement national and internationally comparative data sets with timely, granular, nuanced data.

Assessing Virginia cooling centers as a heat mitigation strategy.

In the United States, heat kills more people on average than any other weather-related hazard, thus the mitigation of heat-related impacts remains a significant issue within emergency management and public health communities. Research indicates the use of community cooling centers as an effective way to reduce vulnerability and adverse heat impacts. Using the Commonwealth of Virginia as a study location, this research evaluates the placement of cooling centers and assesses emergency managers' understanding of heat-related issues.

Challenges for the disaster workforce during a compound hurricane-pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new workforce considerations for emergency management community in addressing cumulative and cascading disasters. This research identifies how emergency management planning for both the changing dynamics of COVID-19 and the upcoming hurricane season may change under a compound threat. Many jurisdictions have faced challenges in providing adequate staffing of shelters before the pandemic.

Changing vulnerability for hurricane evacuation during a pandemic: Issues and anticipated responses in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hurricane evacuations during a pandemic require a revised understanding of vulnerabilities within communities and the development of different strategies and policies to accommodate the needs of populations vulnerable to the combined hurricane-pandemic threat. The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has added economic, psychological, social, health, and workforce stressors to communities across the United States. Using original research data from workshops held in May 2020 involving emergency management, public health, and related experts to support planning efforts for hurricane evacuation and sheltering, we analyze two key issues: (1) shifting sources of vulnerability in a COVID-19 environment and (2) solutions proposed during the post-lockdown/pre-vaccine time frame.