Today, President Biden met with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Chief Medical Advisor and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and COVID-19 Response Coordinator and Counselor to the President Jeff Zients, as well as members of his Homeland Security and COVID-19 Response teams, for a briefing on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in hurricane-prone states in the South and Southeast. They discussed efforts underway to protect public health, enhance preparedness, and adapt response and recovery operations to meet the challenges of the combined effects of hurricanes and the spread of the Delta variant.
The President was briefed on the data that demonstrates that the most important preparatory step people can take to prepare for peak hurricane season is to get vaccinated to ensure they will be protected from COVID-19 if they have to evacuate their homes. They also discussed how FEMA is innovating during the pandemic by working with partner organizations to enable COVID-safe sheltering, providing vaccination options at shelters and recovery centers, and protecting its workforce so they maintain mission readiness.
