HURRICANE BERYL PHEER MOBILIZATION
Background
Hurricane Beryl is the earliest recorded Category 4 and Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. As the first major hurricane of the 2024 season, which spans June 1 to November 30, Beryl made landfall as a Category 4 Hurricane on July 1 in Grenada, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines. It intensified to a Category 5 as it made its way to Jamaica, then Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and made its final landfall in Texas, USA as a Category 1 storm on July 8th, where it left between 2-3 million people without power. Public health agencies across the affected areas are assessing health impacts, supporting health systems, responding to immediate needs, and making plans for short and long term recovery.
Given the scale of Hurricane Beryl’s destruction the directors of the Public Health Extreme Events Research (PHEER) network, in consultation with the PHEER Steering Committee, are mobilizing the network of 200-plus disaster scientists to respond. The objectives of this mobilization are to support local public health researchers and practitioners in their response to Beryl, to inform evolving disaster research agendas and funding decisions, and to advance the field of public health disaster science. PHEER’s initial focus will be on 1) the public health systems impact of Hurricane Beryl and 2) on its health impacts. Any data collected as part of this early reconnaissance will be made available to PHEER members and can be used to contribute to an evolving evidence base.
Hurricane Beryl SitReps
Task Forces
The directors of the PHEER Network are convening two Task Forces. One will examine the Public Health Systems Impact and the other will examine the Health Impacts of Beryl:
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The Public Health Systems Impact Task Force will identify opportunities to learn about public health systems capacity and decision making to respond to concurrent disasters, or where a concurrent disaster is likely to occur but not yet experienced;
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The Health Impacts Task Force will identify research and data opportunities to estimate the indirect effects of Hurricane Beryl on the health and well-being of the exposed population, particularly those dependent upon perishable, ephemeral, or difficult to assemble data.
1. PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEMS TASK FORCE
As NOAA predicts an 85% chance of an “above normal” hurricane season, it is likely that public health agencies in affected areas will be charged with responding to other climate related disasters while still responding to or recovering from Beryl’s impacts. As climate change results in more frequent and intense extreme events globally, there is both need and opportunity to learn about public health systems capacity and approaches to such concurrent response, including as it relates to decision making around resource allocation, workforce capacity, and communications to a large “first event” when the concurrent event has yet to be realized. Indeed, other “early” climate-sensitive disasters occurring across the globe (e.g., wildfires in California), indicate the need to build the evidence base about public health systems response to concurrent disasters, or where a concurrent disaster is likely but not yet experienced, to inform decision making and preserve capacity.
Charge
In order to support evaluative efforts and capitalize on the experience of local public health professionals, PHEER has identified opportunities to integrate a standardized after-action protocol that captures public health systems considerations related to concurrent or potentially concurrent disasters. The Public Health Systems Impact Task Force will:
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Develop a network of public health professionals in jurisdictions affected by Beryl.
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Define critical knowledge gaps related to public health system capacity to respond to concurrent disasters or potentially concurrent disasters, including as it relates to decision making about resource allocation, workforce capacity, and risk and crisis communications.
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Develop a protocol for after-action reporting that captures the critical knowledge gaps identified in [2] that can be implemented by jurisdictions affected by Beryl, with support from PHEER.​
Target Timeline:
July 10-19, 2024
Expression of interest from PHEER members
July 22, 2024
8am PT/11am ET
Meeting 1 to review charge and literature review plan
July 22-30, 2024
Asynchronous literature review
July 22 - August 12, 2024
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Identify a network of public health professionals in jurisdictions affected by Beryl
July 30, 2024
8am PT/11am ET
Meeting 2 to identify scientific gaps and review approach to protocol development
July 30 - August 12, 2024
Asynchronous protocol development
August 12, 2024
8am PT/11am ET
Meeting 3 to finalize protocol and discuss implementation plan
August 12-20, 2024
UW IRB review (exempt), other institutions concurrent review
August 20 - October 30*, 2024
[*or when realistic to conduct after action reporting depending on hurricane season]
Data collection
October 30, 2024* - January 31,2025
Data analysis and reporting