August 31, 2021
This message is to alert partners that Healthcare Ready is ENGAGED for Hurricane Ida
Tuesday, August 31, 2021: This report includes an assessment of the potential impacts to healthcare and public health due to Hurricane Ida.
High-Level Situation Summary
As of Tuesday, August 31, Ida has downgraded from a Tropical Storm to a Tropical Depression. At 5 pm ET today, Ida was moving across the Tennessee Valley and is gradually tracking northeast over the next couple of days.
Heavy rain and flood threats will continue to spread through Tennessee and the Ohio Valleys into the central and southern Appalachians through Wednesday.
The threat for a few tornadoes will be centered today across eastern Alabama, western Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle.
The National Hurricane Center has issued its final advisory on Ida. Public Advisories from the Weather Prediction Center will be the source for updates as long as Ida remains a flood threat. The latest information on Tropical Depression Ida can be found here.
Expected Impacts
Power outages: More than one million customers across the state of Louisiana are still without power and there is no clear timeline on when the power will be restored. With heat advisories issued today and the rest of the week, along with no A/C for a vast number of electricity customers in the state, this means a substantial portion of the population will be vulnerable to heat illness.
Power company Entergy said more than 2,000 miles of transmission lines were knocked out of service along with 216 substations along the southeast region.
Baton Rouge, Jefferson, and Orleans are the most impacted parishes with 100,000 – 200,000 affected customers each.
In Mississippi, about 50,000 people are without power and in Georgia, about 20,000 people are without power.
Transportation: Trees, power lines, and other storm debris from Ida’s impacts continue to be the cause for road and highway closures across the affected regions. As of Tuesday, August 31, Louisiana 511 is reporting road closures up and down central Louisiana as well as the southeastern part of the state.
On August 31, all interstate systems in Louisiana are open and travel lanes are clear of debris following Hurricane Ida. Crews recently completed clearing debris from I-10 and I-55 in the Baton Rouge and Hammond areas.
Today, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, State Route 26 has been closed at Crossroads Road in both directions in George County and U.S. Highway 90 remains closed as conditions on sections of the highway remain hazardous.
In Alabama, the Battleship Parkway Causeway (U.S. Highway 98) remains closed in the Mobile area, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation.
COVID-19: Due to ambiguous mask mandates and lower vaccination rates in the Gulf coast surrounding states, the increasing surge of COVID-19 infections will likely impact evacuation and sheltering. We are tracking this closely and will continue to report any situation reports and analysis we have.
Resource Staging: Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) announced that the State of Florida is deploying resources to assist Louisiana and Mississippi with recovery from Hurricane Ida.
FDEM continues to work closely with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi to identify remaining needs.
More than 1,100 Florida utility restoration personnel are deployed to support restoration efforts.
On Monday, August 30, US Department of Health and Human Services determined that a public health emergency exists and has existed since August 26, 2021, in the State of Louisiana, and since August 28, 2021, in the State of Mississippi.
Over 5,200 National Guard personnel have been activated to Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama to help in recovery efforts.
Additionally, on Monday, August 30, the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced an Emergency Declaration that provides truck drivers flexibility to move critical freight to areas damaged by Ida - making it easier to supply essential items such as food, water, fuel, and power restoration equipment to help support emergency relief efforts.
Affected states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas.
Louisiana
State: A State of Emergency has been in effect for all parishes since Thursday 8/26.
Federal: A Federal disaster declaration was approved for all parishes on Thursday 8/26. This declaration authorized FEMA to identify, mobilize, and provide equipment and resources needed to respond to the emergency.
Transportation waivers:
Weight Waiver in place for commercial motor carriers travelling on public highways in Louisiana for the purpose of emergency preparedness and disaster relief. For these carriers, the total gross weight of any vehicle or combination of vehicles shall note exceed 88 thousand pounds.
Toll Waiver in place for tolls under the operation of the state of Louisiana, specifically LA 1 Toll Bridge from Leeville, Louisiana to Grand Isle and Port Fourchon.
Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center are at LEVEL I full activation.
More information on the Louisiana's emergency activation levels, can be found here.
Mississippi
State: A State of Emergency has been in effect since August 28. It allows the state government to deploy state resources and state assets for the purpose of search and rescue.
Federal: A Federal disaster declaration was approved for the state on August 28.
Any expenses accrued by the state and specific counties in preparation of Hurricane Ida are now eligible for federal reimbursement.
Alabama
State: Governor Kay Ivey declared a State of Emergency for coastal and western counties on August 28.
Evacuations and Curfews
Louisiana:
Following the widespread impacts of Ida, several parishes are announcing curfews and assessing the damages to determine whether or not residents are able to return to their homes.
To find updated information on statewide shelters, individuals can text “lashelter” to 898-211. They can also call 211 to speak with representatives who will determine whether the individual needs to be diverted to a medical shelter.
New Orleans residents should text DELTA to 888777 or text NOLAREADY to 77295.
Mississippi
Shelter openings by county are available from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Other Organizations
Individuals can also search for open American Red Cross shelters here.
They can call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or download the free Red Cross Emergency app for shelter locations.
The non-profit Airbnb.org is offering to support responders and displaced households in need of a temporary place to stay.
For more information about placement for individuals in need, please reach out to alerts@healthcareready.org and we will connect you directly with Airbnb.
The following locations will pass out meals, water, and have charging stations for electronic devices available:
New Philippians Missionary Baptist, 5234 North Claiborne Ave. in the Lower Ninth Ward
Maria Goretti Church, 7300 Crowder in the East, 1:30 pm
Tarps at the Arthur Monday Center on 1111 Newton Street in Algiers from 1 pm to 5 pm
St. Roch Park, 1800 St. Roch Ave., 1 pm
2514 Washington Ave., 1:30 pm
Trinity Lutheran Church, 5234 N. Claiborne Ave., 1:30 pm
St. Maria Goretti Church, 7300 Crowder Blvd., 1:30 pm
Rosenwald Recreation Center, 1120 S. Broad Ave., 3 pm
Life Transformation Center, 8606 Marks St., 4 pm
NOLAReady is also offering free meals at multiple locations that can be found here.
Communications
Healthcare facilities across the affected areas are working to restore communications, which may cause delays in reporting unmet needs.
Verizon announced on August 30 that the company will provide unlimited calling, texting, and data to its customers in Louisiana and Mississippi through September 5 due to Ida.
As of August 30, Verizon reports that they are using backup generators to run their cell sites and switching centers as well as having network and response teams on standby 24/7.
Network operations in downtown Baton Rouge and New Orleans withstood the storm and are operational (Verizon is running overlapping coverage in metropolitan areas).
Verizon is currently targeting these areas as they currently have gaps in coverage: coastal LA, Thibodaux, Morgan City, Houma, Hammond, southern coastline of Lake Pontchartrain.
T-Mobile announced on August 29 that the company will be offering free talk, text and unlimited data from August 29 through September, for T-Mobile, Sprint consumer and business customers (except Enterprise and Government accounts), and T-Mobile Pre-Paid who are not already on unlimited plans in select areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.
As of As of August 30, T-Mobile announced that their wireless network is 70% operational across Louisiana and Alabama, and that Wi-Fi calling is a suitable alternative if Wi-Fi connection is available.
As a reminder, Metro by T-Mobile customers always have unlimited talk and text on all plans.
Hurricane Ida had caused significant impacts to ATT network in Louisiana from the massive power outages and storm damage. Alabama is operating normally and there is only a small wireless impact in Mississippi at this time.
As of August 31, AT&T announced that their recovery and restoration efforts have made substantial progress in the affected areas.
They are running on generators as they deal with damages to their infrastructure, and currently have 13 mobile satellite towers on air to help impacted areas.
LA is operating at more than 85% of normal capacity.
Wireless networks in AL are operating normally.
MS is experiencing minimal impact to their wireless service.
AT&T announced on August 30 that the company will be waiving overage charges to provide unlimited talk, text and data for AT&T Postpaid & PREPAID customers with billing addresses in 388 zip codes across Louisiana and Mississippi from August 29 through September 4.
Customers in these areas may still receive alerts during these dates, but accounts will reflect the credits and/or waived data, voice and text charges.
No Public Service Access Points(PSAPs) were reported as being affected in Mississippi or Alabama. The Orleans, St. Johns and St. Bernard’s Parish Sherriff's offices have rerouted their 911 emergency calls to another PSAP with location information provided.
There are 2 Television Stations (WGNO, WNOL-TV), 3 FM Radio Stations (KVDU, WNOE, WRNOE-FM) and 2 AM Radio Stations (WODT, WYLD) reported being out of service.
Access and Reentry
No significant changes since August 30 (8/30 sit-rep).
Louisiana
Louisiana has a statewide credentialing and access program to facilitate post disaster re-entry. The system permits individuals and organizations to register for re-entry credentials. Access and re-entry decisions are communicated by the Louisiana State Police and the Emergency Responder ID Trust Network (ER-ITN).
Mississippi
Mississippi also utilizes the ER-ITN statewide credentialing and access program to facilitate post disaster re-entry. The system permits individuals and organizations to register for re-entry credentials. Access and re-entry decisions are communicated by the Mississippi State Police and ER-ITN.
Alabama
Alabama does not have a statewide credentialing and access program to facilitate post disaster re-entry. County-level Emergency Management Agencies are authorized to manage access and re-entry decisions.
Port Closing
As of August 28, at 2 pm CT, the US Coast Guard’s Caption of the Port (COTP) New Orleans set Port Condition ZULU for the Lower Mississippi River. Traffic control measures that are in effect include no vessel movement (entry or transit) on the Lower Mississippi River in affected areas.
As of August 30, the Port of Southern Louisiana is operating on restricted Operations as per the COTP.
Essential personnel are assessing the situation and will follow up with updates as soon as possible.
At the Port of New Orleans, the New Orleans Terminal and Ports America for containerized operations are closed though August 30. Additionally, Empire, Coastal Cargo, Gulf Stream Marine, and Ports American will be closed for breakbulk operations through August 30.
Port NOLA crews are assessing Ida’s impacts and are working to resume operation safely and as quickly as possible. No major damage has been reported to their facilities.
The St Bernard Port reported that all maritime operations ceased starting 6 pm on August 27.
The Administration Office is closed until Monday, September 6.
They anticipate re-opening on Tuesday, September 7.
Healthcare Response Updates and Needs
Emergency Medical Services
911 emergency services have been fully restored in Orleans Parish.
Residents should call 911 for emergencies and 311 (504-658-2299) for non-emergencies.
Residents with medical needs can sign up for the Special Needs Registry at specialneeds.nola.gov or call 3-1-1 to sign up.
911 emergency services have been fully restored in Terrebonne Parish.
The Terrebonne Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness announced the following fire stations have suspended service in Terrebonne Parish: Bayou Black Fire Department, Houma Fire Department, Coteau Fire Department, Little Caillou Fire Department, Dularge Fire Department, Grand Caillou Fire Department, Village East Fire Department and Bourge Fire Department.
The Bayou Cane Fire Department can only respond to fire alarms.
Healthcare Facilities
Several provider types subject to CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, including nursing homes and long-term care centers, must ensure that temperatures in patient care settings do not exceed 81 degrees during power outages. Facilities that cannot meet the requirement may need to consider evacuating for the health and safety of patients.
Hospitals
FEMA reported four Louisiana hospitals were damaged, 39 medical facilities were operating on generator power, and many patients are being evacuated.
Official says four hospitals and nursing homes evacuated in Jefferson Parish, La., with the remaining still sheltering in place.
Per Monday evening (8/31), there were more than 2,600 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and another 500 on ventilators, which require electricity to run.
The State will work to move people to hotels quickly so they can keep their distance from one another.
Ochsner Health, which runs Louisiana's largest hospital network and had about 15 hospitals in Ida's path, evacuated 165 patients from three hospitals from Houma and Raceland in the hard-hit Bayou region.
Other Ochsner Health facilities in New Orleans and elsewhere stayed fully open, even after water leaked inside after the storm blew off rooftop ventilation covers and broke a few windows. All were running on generators, and some used water from private wells.
Several healthcare systems in the New Orleans area have kicked contingency plans into gear, including increasing staffing, supplies, and limiting the number of patients that can be admitted.
Patient surges in less impacted areas, including Baton Rouge and some parts of New Orleans, are threatening to push those hospitals to capacity.
Staffing assistance and/or alternate care sites are a need.
In Mississippi, vaccine and testing clinics have been closed across the state, with many planning to resume care Tuesday 8/31
One hospital in Pike County, Mississippi lost power for several hours, but generators kept the storm from affecting patients.
Intensive care units across Mississippi remain at or near capacity as hospitals manage staff shortages and high numbers of COVID-19 patients
Several Mississippi hospitals reported having little to no disruption of care because of the severe weather.
The impacts of Ida will only strain the hospital systems further. In southern Mississippi, health officials have been diverting critical care patients to northern hospitals. Federal health care teams — which were already responding to the COVID-19 surge in Louisiana and Mississippi — will assist in that effort.
Dialysis Centers
Today, 8/31, there have been 53 total reported dialysis facility closures because of Hurricane Ida.
Over 14 facilities are closed due to staffing shortages, and many are expected to reopen tomorrow, September 1.
There are plans to reopen larger clinics first, with increased shifts, and transport patients into those facilities until smaller facilities can be reopened. Four larger clinics in the downtown New Orleans area are open and currently accepting surge patients from surrounding facilities that remain closed.
Teams are working with hospital partners to reroute patients that are presenting at hospitals to open, out-patient facilities in the area.
Large dialysis organizations are working to ensure all patients are accounted for.
Fuel tanker has been out topping on generators and water tankers are en route to assist with water related issues as needed.
Any person who needs dialysis or has questions about where to receive care before, during, or after the storm is asked to call 1-800-626-1297. The line is available 24 hours a day and will be up for at least a week.
Dialysis centers in New Orleans will be operational beginning August 31. This is subject to change based on water and sewer availability.
Patients are advised to confirm if their dialysis center is still open before leaving for a scheduled appointment.
Pharmacy Operations
Rx Open is activated for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The map was last updated at 2 pm ET, August 31. As of this update:
38.1% of participating pharmacies in Louisiana were reporting Closed or Unknown.
4.7% of participating pharmacies in Mississippi were reporting Closed or Unknown.
6.1%% of participating pharmacies in Alabama were reporting Closed or Unknown.
Additional pharmacy closures are expected to be reflect in the next update of the map. The map will be updated the afternoon of Wednesday, September 1.
COVID-19 Status
No significant changes since August 30 (8/30 sit-rep).
According to the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI), Louisiana’s overall vulnerability ranks at a 0.78, on a scale from 0 to 1, indicating communities to be more likely to be diagnosed with the virus, more likely to die, less likely to have been tested, and less likely to have been fully vaccinated.
According to the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI)Quitman County, MS, is in the top 10 list of counties most vulnerable to COVID-19. Additional Mississippi counties that are vulnerable to COVID-19 include: Humphreys, Tunica, Leake, Noxubee, Issaquena, Sunflower, Sharkey, Claiborne, Copiah, Wilkinson, Yazoo, Scott, Attala, Holmes, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Neshoba, Montgomery, Calhoun, Benton, and Jefferson Counties.
There is no mask mandate for the Mississippi state-wide, but counties with high rates of COVID-19 are required to wear masks in indoor settings.
According to the Mississippi Department of Health, more than 7,971 new cases were confirmed as of Sunday, August 29. As of Monday, August 30, 1,111 new cases were reported. This case count is impacted by reduced staffing related to Hurricane Ida.
Mississippi is reporting that nearly 317 COVID patients remained on ventilators and 89.5 percent of ICU beds were full.
All Mississippi State Department of Health COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites in central and south Mississippi will remain closed Tuesday, August 31. The site in north Mississippi will operate as usual.
Under the same Rule, a pharmacist licensed in another state may dispense prescription medications in Louisiana if they adhere to certain conditions in the Rule.
To get an emergency refill, individuals should take their prescription bottle to any TRICARE retail network pharmacy. To find a network pharmacy, either call Express Scripts at 1-877-363-1303 or search the network pharmacy locator.
Alabama
Prescription refill waivers are authorized for Alabama through September 4.
Oxygen Supply
Oxygen re-supply needs, particularly in regions with high COVID-19 rates whose resupply is dependent on transportation through the areas impacted by Ida, will continually be monitored throughout the week.
The oxygen supply concern goes beyond just hospital supply – individual canisters and tanks used by discharged COVID-19 patients and those with disabilities were also in high demand.
Sixteen parishes, and 168 water systems, are facing water outages as of 10 am CT August 31. This affects over 600,000 people, twice the amount it impacted yesterday.
In Jefferson parish, water will be out for at least five days.
There are concerns that saturated ground will lead to uprooted trees compromising plumbing and leading to low or no water pressure.
Potential Oil/Resources Impacts
There is a high likelihood that needs will soon surface due to the considerable number of facilities and utilities currently running on generator power. Updates will be shared as they become available over the coming days.
Initial reports from fuel suppliers and distributors indicate that gas station shortages may be upcoming. We are tracking this with a specific lens to the impact on the health sector.
Louisiana
Port Fourchon, where Ida made landfall, serves as the land base for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. They were forced to shut down production, which accounts for 90% of the Gulf’s deep water oil production.
Exxon is reducing refinery production in Baton Rouge, however, no major damage has been reported so far.
Other Actions
If you become aware of situation(s) that may adversely affect healthcare supply or care in the affected area, or if you would like to request the assistance of Healthcare Ready, please contact us at Alerts@HealthcareReady.org or call 1.866.247.2694.
We are standing by, ready to assist those in the impacted areas. For those of you in the affected areas, our thoughts are with you.
Rx on the Run, a downloadable medication card for citizens to keep track of their medications.
Message sent to Healthcare Ready national partners and those registered for alerts in: LA, MS, AL
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