{"title":"Throwing Caution to the Wind: COVID-19 and Hurricanes","authors":"M. Tracey, Alicia Plemmons, Ariel R Belasen","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3832804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3832804","url":null,"abstract":"The onset of Hurricane Laura during the COVID-19 pandemic provides a natural experiment to estimate the effect of reduced social distancing on the spread of COVID-19. To this end, we first provide evidence of hurricane-induced mobility. Then using hospital-level data on confirmed and suspected adult COVID-19 cases, we find that such cases rise by more than 10 percent in hurricane-affected counties in subsequent weeks. Lower income areas endured a higher growth in COVID-19 cases in the post-hurricane period. These findings provide crucial insights for policymakers when designing natural disaster protocols to adjust for potential viral illnesses.","PeriodicalId":309642,"journal":{"name":"Environment & Public Health eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121406647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}