“A truck transports nursing home staff and patients during the evacuation of a nursing home due to rising flood waters in the wake of Hurricane Florence in 2018. ALEX EDELMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES”

Though scenes as the one above are ones not common in the Berks-Lancaster-Lebanon County areas, hurricanes and flooding could happen. In Pennsylvania and “worldwide, flooding is probably the number one cause of losses from natural events.”

And from time to time, the area is visited by hurricanes and super storms.

“Nursing homes face an impossible decision during hurricane season this year — whether or not to evacuate their residents amid the Covid-19 pandemic, risking the health and well-being of their patients and staff in the process.

“Even in normal times, evacuation decisions are tough: Research shows that moving frail residents can exacerbate already burdensome health conditions and increase hospitalizations. But failing to evacuate can leave residents vulnerable to power outages, flooding, and even death. This year, as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the Southeast in particular, that decision is even harder — hospitals are already overburdened and social distancing isn’t necessarily possible in evacuation vans or temporary shelters.

“Nursing home residents are also far more vulnerable to Covid-19 than the general population.” – Click here to continue reading this article at STATNews.

Evacuation is just one of the Incident Response Guides that’s listed in the Nursing Home Incident Command System.