Jasper Co. hurricane shelter should be ‘last resort’ due to COVID-19. Here are new rules
Beaufort County residents have evacuated four times for hurricanes in as many years, but doing so in 2020 in the age of coronavirus will look much different.
As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in South Carolina, state and local officials are urging people to plan ahead for hurricane season with the pandemic in mind.
The Ridgeland/Hardeeville School Complex is the only shelter in Jasper County and the closest option for people who may be evacuating Beaufort County, Jasper County Emergency Services director Frank Edwards said.
Beaufort County has about a dozen “emergency shelters” at local schools that are operated by the American Red Cross, but they are not open if a hurricane makes landfall.
In the past, the Jasper County shelter has been able to hold about 1,200 evacuees, Edwards said.
Despite new improvements paid for with FEMA grant money — additional shutters on windows and the installation of a generator that more than doubled the capacity to 3,000, among them — the shelter will now only be able to hold between 600 and 640 people.
“Because of the COVID-19 situation, we are obviously planning for more space per evacuee,” Edwards said. “Each evacuee will have about 100 to 110 square feet of space which diminishes the capacity of the shelter.”
However, the improvements mean the shelter can now accept people with special medical needs which it hadn’t been able to do in the past.
Edwards encouraged residents who may evacuate to consider staying with friends and family or in hotels further inland if they can.
“Emergency shelters should be in people’s thoughts as a last resort,” he said. “We’re not going to turn people away, but don’t want to pack the shelter if we can avoid it.”
Those who do stay in the shelter will be screened by Red Cross staff upon arrival, including a temperature check and symptom questionnaire. Depending on the screening, evacuees will either be allowed into the general population area of the shelter or put in an isolation area for further monitoring.
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be sent to a different “non-congregate” location, which may be a hotel, Edwards said.
Inside the shelter, facilities will be cleaned and sanitized frequently, evacuees will be required to wear face masks and medical personnel will be on site.
People should bring their own bedding material because everyone is not guaranteed a cot, and their own medicine and other supplies.
Edwards said emergency management staff has been meeting with Red Cross weekly for the last two months and will continue to do so and release new information as it becomes available.
Beaufort County has had 2,580 test postive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Jasper County has had 361, Tuesday data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control showed. Each county has had 31 and four deaths, respectively.
About 11.6% of COVID-19 tests in Beaufort County and 12.6% in Jasper County have been confirmed positive since March, according to recent reporting from The Island Packet.
