SAN ANTONIO — With a tropical storm bearing down on Texas at the same time as a pandemic continues to devastate communities across the state, leaders and health authorities are being tasked this week with a unique challengee: Helping those affected by the weather while also working to mitigate COVID-19's spread as much as they can.
Some of that falls on officials in San Antonio, 180 miles away from where Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to make landfall after strengthening into a hurricane on Saturday. Mayor Ron Nirenberg emphasized that the city is prepared and has readied "several hotels" to shelter any evacuees that may come to the Alamo City.
But he also acknowledged that preparing those accommodations is not quite business as usual with the pandemic.
"We are in the danger zone in so many ways with regard to the storm and the threat of increased transmission if we were to have a lot of activity coming here," Nirenberg said. "So we are asking everybody to be on-guard."
As of Friday evening, weather officials said Hanna was expected to strengthen into a hurricane, the first of the 2020 season, before it makes landfall Saturday somewhere south of Corpus Christi. Rain is expected to arrive in the San Antonio metro by midday Saturday.
Nirenberg said facilities for COVID-19 patients will be separate from those housing potential evacuees from coastal communities as Hanna approaches.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the San Antonio Fire Department says there are "plans in place" for helping those Texans while keeping potential virus exposure to a minimum.
"As with all storms that threaten the gulf coast, San Antonio stands ready to be utilized as a point of safe refuge," said Joe Arrington, public information officer for SAFD.
Nirenberg on Friday reported 299 new cases of the coronavirus in Bexar County, a sharp decline of 1,688 cases reported on Wednesday and 1,078 on Thursday. But general numbers are still trending in the wrong direction for the metro, and 313 county residents have died from coronavirus-related causes.
Earlier this week, both Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff attributed the recent rise in cases to San Antonians who gathered to celebrate over the Fourth of July Weekend. While there are no holidays scheduled for this weekend, the impact of how emergency response personnel in the city adjust to a potential intake of Hanna evacuees could be seen in the coronavirus figures in early August.
“With normal evacuation, you’re trying to pull as many people as quickly as possible," Nirenberg said. "That can’t be the way we do it now—there’d be so much risk of transmission.”