Disaster Response in the Age of COVID-19: Mexico

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted our world and must be considered when in all future planning, including natural hazard preparation and response. In order to formulate an effective response, one should know how COVID-19 and natural hazards affect one another. 2020 saw many of these events in areas heavily impacted by the pandemic. These events have allowed us to see how COVID-19 and natural hazards may interact. To better understand how these affect each other, this StoryMap will explore the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, the spread of disease during a natural hazard event, and will conclude with examples of governmental organizations' response plans.

Like many other countries, the Mexican government has been criticized for its limited response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It should be noted, however, that Mexico is already dealing with persistent health concerns that challenge healthcare facilities. Some of these challenges include tuberculosis, hemorrhagic dengue, and yellow fever. With the added stressors of COVID-19, the Mexican healthcare system—and all other countries—has found it difficult to navigate the intricacies of keeping up with the operations of pandemic. Some of the issues associated with the Mexican government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic are a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing, as well as their healthcare workers being at greater risk of contracting the virus (Litewka, 2020). Below are interactive websites to help better understand the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.

The Mexican government has adapted a bimonthly traffic-light monitoring system as one of the holistic response strategies towards COVID-19 pandemic. This system categorizes the current situation of COVID-19 in a region based on the number of new cases, hospital occupancy, and percentage of new cases . This categorization in turn determines the level of restrictions that apply in those areas. Interestingly, even with most critical scenarios where ‘red’ restrictions are ordered, most essential business activities are allowed as opposed to a total lockdown. Figure A3 shows a snapshot example of the Mexican States placed into different tiers.

There are three major lessons to apply when relating the history of epidemics after natural hazards to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first lesson being: an epidemiologic model claims that the progression of the pandemic in an area is key to whether a natural disaster will further the spread of COVID-19 or not (de Vries & Rambabu, 2020). If there is little to no COVID-19 in the area, conditions resemble those typical of diseases that normally cause epidemics in disasters; thus, COVID-19 is unlikely to spread in these conditions.

The second major lesson is the concern of population displacement. The generally crowded nature of shelters makes them prime targets for spread of acute respiratory diseases (of which COVID-19 is a part of) (Watson et al., 2007). Preventing the overcrowding of shelters is crucial to minimizing the risk for an outbreak. Suggestions include using hotels as temporary emergency shelter, or even encouraging civilians to shelter in place if they are not in the path of severe damage from a disaster (as described in Figure 3) (Price et al., 2020).

This leads into the third and final major lesson: disaster shelters are historically good at preventing disease spread. Even if traditional shelters get crowded, there are ways to stop an outbreak, including access to sanitation facilities, medical care, and possibly vaccinations. Population displacements can help medical teams decide where they should focus their response in containing COVID-19 spread, but it should not be looked at as a situation where the worst possible outcome is likely (de Vries & Rambabu, 2020).

Both recommend preparing “to-go” kits for disasters. These resources suggest the following items to be included: disinfectants such as hand-sanitizer, multiple face masks, essential personal items such as prescriptions, and food and water for at least three days (CDC, 2020 & American Red Cross, 2021). The Red Cross also advises creating a 2-week “stay-at-home” kit. This would mainly include non-perishable food, bottled water, and medicine (American Red Cross, 2021). The CDC website outlines shelter etiquette during COVID-19, including six feet social distancing, disinfecting hands, following instructions, avoid touching surfaces, and informing the staff if you feel ill (CDC, 2020).

The concern for disease spread after natural disasters has historically been misconstrued, and the spread of COVID-19 during a natural disaster is no exception. While many disaster models suggest there is risk, a proper disaster response is likely to contain an outbreak of COVID-19. Concern and efforts should be targeted towards areas with a high background infection rate as well as disasters that cause significant population displacement. These effective disaster responses included sheltering evacuees in hotels, providing personal protection equipment to staff, encouraging shelter in place if citizens are not in immediate danger, and providing disinfectants. Updated FEMA guidelines can help disaster response leaders adapt their plans to prepare for a disaster during a pandemic. Individuals could also play a role in preventing COVID-19 spread during a natural disaster. Following the CDC and Red Cross guidelines in creating a “to-go” kit would help in limiting infections in public shelters and evacuations. 

The larger concern with COVID-19 and natural disasters in Mexico should come from the ability of the healthcare sector to respond to a natural disaster. A lack of PPE, funding, and COVID-19 testing has resulted in Mexico having one of the world’s highest mortality rates for healthcare workers. To help allocate resources for response, the Mexican Government created a traffic light system. This system incorporates the status of healthcare in an area; therefore, it could be a useful when deciding how to respond to a disaster.