title: Challenges to implementing communicable disease surveillance in New York City evacuation shelters after Hurricane Sandy, November 2012.
abstract: Hurricane Sandy hit New York City (NYC) on October 29, 2012. Before and after the storm, 73 temporary evacuation shelters were established. The total census of these shelters peaked at approximately 6,800 individuals. Concern about the spread of communicable diseases in shelters prompted the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to rapidly develop a surveillance system to report communicable diseases and emergency department transports from shelters. We describe the implementation of this system. Establishing effective surveillance in temporary shelters was challenging and required in-person visits by DOHMH staff to ensure reporting. After system establishment, surveillance data were used to identify some potential disease clusters. For the future, we recommend pre-event planning for disease surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Epidemic Intelligence Service, Atlanta, GA ; New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Alison D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ridpath
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bregman
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Lucretia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Vasudha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: HaeNa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Waechter
authors.affiliation: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balter
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D004190:Disasters; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D060447:Emergency Shelter / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000458:organization & administration; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D015397:Program Evaluation; D062486:Public Health Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000458:organization & administration