Texas and Louisiana COVID-19 Cases Could Increase After Hurricane Laura
States of Texas and Louisiana could struggle even more to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in their areas after Hurricane Laura.
Officials fear that a new wave of COVID-19 infections could be recorded in the wake of Hurricane Laura.
"We're basically going to be blind for this week because we'll have to discontinue much of our community-based testing," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was quoted in a report.
Edwards said that state administration took safety measures to prevent the further spread of the virus.
These measures include placing storm refugees in hotels and motels instead of putting them in crowded shelters.
Edwards said they do not want people using congregate shelters unless it is an absolute last resort.
He added that if they are going to use them, they will try to make them as safe as they can.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the same concerns.
Abbott said that COVID-19 is going to be in Texas during the course of Hurricane Laura.
"Remember: Just because a hurricane is coming to Texas, does not mean COVID-19 either has or is going to leave Texas," Abbott was quoted.
CEO of the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, Darrell Pile, said it will be up to residents of Texas to ensure that the pandemic does not spread.
Pile said that social distancing will be much more difficult for people who are evacuating.
"However, they can wear a mask." Pile said.
He added that they can do their best to minimize being too close to each other.
Hurricane Laura
Scientists at Columbia University and the Union of Concerned Scientists said before Hurricane Laura arrived that a large-scale hurricane evacuation could increase the chances of spreading COVID-19.
Kristy Dahl, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and one of the co-authors of the study, warned that many of the country's most hurricane-prone states have recently experienced some of the highest COVID-19 growth rates in the nation.
"In every scenario we analyzed, hurricane evacuations cause an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases," Dahl was quoted in a report.
States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona experienced a surge of new cases and deaths after they started reopening in May with objection of many public health experts.
Austin, one of Texas' major evacuation centers, housed in more than a thousand of Gulf Coast residents in advance of the Hurricane Laura.
Texas COVID-19 cases
Texas recorded 91,734 new COVID-19 cases and 2,779 deaths in just the last two weeks.
In addition, Texas was fourth in nation's ranking with nearly 12,000 deaths and second only to California in a total number of cases with 612, 632 as of Thursday.
The United States' death toll was over 180,000 as of Thursday. The number of confirmed cases was nearing 6 million.
Meanwhile, the federal Centers for Disease Control Prevention has decided to change the guidelines on COVID-19 testing.
On Wednesday, the CDC amended its guidelines to say that healthy people who had been exposed to COVID-19 "do not necessarily needed a test," provided that they do not have symptoms.
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