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Were another Sandy to happen during a record-breaking 2020 hurricane season, government officials grapple with how evacuations will keep people not only safe but healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“An evacuation destination is the most critical component of a family’s evacuation plan, and both the pandemic and active storm season highlight the importance of a plan,” said Martin Pagliughi, director of emergency management for Cape May County.

South Jersey lived through tropical storms Fay and Isaias in July and August, respectively. However, those came and went without widespread devastation.

Earlier in the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, Cape May County issued a notice urging residents to secure a safe place to go, outside of the county, in the event of an evacuation, so as to free up space for those who truly need it.

Much of that has to do with new evacuation shelter guidance put in place by the Federal Emergency Management Association to accompany social distancing measures during the pandemic.

What used to be 44 square feet of shelter space per person is now 110 square feet. In Atlantic County, what was a 7,980 shelter occupancy limit is now down to 2,992. During Sandy, roughly 2,700 people sheltered in seven locations.

Those capacity limitations extend to transportation to and from shelters, too, with additional requirements for personal protective equipment.

“You got to get them from where their inception site is to the shelters. … That becomes a huge problem,” said Vince Jones, director of emergency management for Atlantic County.

Both Atlantic and Cape May counties have been preparing for an evacuation scenario for months. One of their biggest concerns is what happens to people who are at high risk for the worst effects of COVID-19. A few options are on the table.

“We’re looking at a shelter specifically for them. We’re looking at a congregate sheltering and then one where we’ll need to quarantine individuals. We never had to do that. … How long can we support them? That’s the other thing, too. Some of these shelters will be care shelters,” Jones said.

In Atlantic County, Jones said St. Augustine Preparatory High School is its medical needs shelter. However, critical COVID-19 supplies, and ventilators, are not readily available.

“We don’t have high-end type stuff there,” Jones said.

It’s not just the evacuees who are high risk. Community Emergency Response Teams, usually at the front lines of shelters to help with people transitioning in, and other volunteers are typically in the higher-risk, 65-and-older population and may not want to assist during the pandemic, Jones said.

“County health has to be a partner with us. They’re almost going to take the lead role for sheltering for individuals,” he said.

In Cape May County, the Woodbine Developmental Center is the main shelter, and would also handle those with medical needs. Upper Township Middle School in Marmora is a secondary shelter, and can also handle medical needs.

With 60% less capacity, the normal 130 people capacity gets cut to 52, said Scott Morgan, emergency management coordinator for Upper Township. Cape May County sheltered 700 residents during Sandy.

Morgan said if the Woodbine center filled up, the middle school would be the next place for county residents to go. However, the township already has its own agreements in place.

“We would definitely work with the county to make that happen (all county residents in the shelter), but we have an agreement with Ocean City to work with them first,” Morgan said.

Other parts of the United States have already had to deal with evacuating during a pandemic. Galveston County, Texas, has had to do it twice. A mandatory evacuation order was in place during Hurricane Laura, which made landfall about 100 miles east as a Category 4 hurricane Aug. 27. A few weeks later, Tropical Storm Beta prompted voluntary evacuations as it made landfall Sept. 21 about 90 miles to the county’s west.

“We talk about congregate sheltering that we had in the past, we couldn’t do that this year,” said Scott Tafuri, emergency management coordinator for Galveston County, a New Jersey native who made his way to the Texas Gulf coast after serving in the military.

Galveston County has an agreement with the city of Austin to bus residents for shelter. The county is a “non-evacuation county,” as its low elevation makes it unsafe for a permanent sheltering location.

Tafuri said preparation helped make the evacuation process smooth.

“We talked to our local health department; we didn’t have any rise in numbers due to evacuation orders. … Everything worked out well for us,” Tafuri said.

The positive result came down to social distancing and screening.

“As opposed to putting 40 to 50 people on the bus, we put 15 to 20 people on the bus, screening them beforehand, making sure that they had the proper PPE. … We had ambulance strike teams that we had with help of the state,” Tafuri said.

Families were put into hotel rooms, and the city of Austin identified areas to put people who needed to be isolated.

Tafuri said even though the circumstances around sheltering have changed, the messaging remains the same.

“Make your plan, build your kit and stay informed. Listen to local, trusted news sources and elected officials. They’ll give you the most up-to-date, current information that they have and the best information that they have,” Tafuri said.