THREAD #HurricaneHanna and #Covid. Some data based on Sat. night briefings. 2020 Hurricane Season was forecast to be well above average and, so far, it’s living up to the fears. WE ARE ALREADY AS FAR DOWN THE NAME LIST AS WE WOULD BE IN LATE-SEPT IN AVERAGE HURRICANE SEASON. 1/

Hanna and Gonzalo broke records for being earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Hanna was 8th named storm in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane. Hurricane Douglas is threatening Hawaii; tropical "waves" heading towards PR and Gulf could get worse. 2/

There has been so much public, NGO (disclosure, I help atRed Cross) and private planning for a Covid/hurricane horror. That is good. And those plans are now activated. Whether they are executed well is another question. And everyone is tired and cranky so there's that. 3/

3 main points: 1)prefer non-evacuation over evacuation; 2)shelters must be de-densified; 3)if evacuate, do it early. Here's the basic lay out of planning priorities (this from @redcross) on shelter strategy, shelter operations and evaucations. (another chart!) 4/

What can you do besides worry? That doesn't help. If you are in eye of storms, pay attention to potentially new rules and protocols; get ready (again) at home; if potentially exposed to COVID, you need to be transparent about that so as not to expose others at shelter, etc. 5/

Shelters should be last resort (always) so if any alternatives, then choose them; there will be efforts to determine if evacuees have COVID. For the rest of you, if you can. . . .6/

Donate blood. Our hospitals are under such stress, and any relief is welcome. As importantly, if you have time (again, worrying doesn't help!), become a disaster volunteer or affiliated volunteer through @redcross Seasonal Readiness Campaign. 7/

Hopefully I've turned you all on enough to the less than sexy logistics challenges of all this stuff, and hurricanes just need volunteers, on phones, helping move people/things, take in information, etc. You can do it from home; if want more training, you can get deployed. 8/

Summer of 2020 brings so many worries. The good disaster relief people have been planning for this since March 2020. So that should help you worry less. But our nation is suffering, institutions are broken. Still, worrying doesn't help. Volunteer if you can. And also vote. 9/9