Tornado season forces people to choose: Public shelter or social distancing?
By Associated Press -April 11, 2020 1:00 PM
Emergency planners, health officials, and forecasters are generally advising people to take their chances with the virus when a tornado is headed their way.
As each day brings the United States closer to peak severe weather season, Tornado Alley residents are facing a difficult question: Is it better to take on a twister outside a community shelter or to face the possibility of contracting the new coronavirus inside one?
So far, sheltering from deadly weather appears to be taking precedent over staying away from a potentially deadly disease, but not for everyone.
In north Alabama, where powerful tornadoes have killed dozens in recent years, a little more than 700 people showed up at three shelters — a turnout that was actually larger than usual, due to especially dire storm predictions — when potentially dangerous weather threatened the Tennessee Valley in late March.
Two of the shelters were located in schools, where workers urged people to stay 6 feet apart in accordance with pandemic rules about social distancing, said Decatur Police Chief Nate Allen. They also asked whether anyone felt ill, and people who said they did were directed to an isolation room near an exterior door.
https://americanindependent.com/coronavirus-emergency-planners-tornado-alley-sheltering-pandemic-covid-19/
