Scripps Medical Response Team Nurse Weighs in on COVID-19 and Disasters

Evacuation shelters could become havens for the virus

Scripps Medical Response Team huddles with heads bowed, before deploying to Northern California in 2018.

Deb McQuillen (left) and members of Scripps Medical Response Team huddle before the team’s deployment to Northern California in 2018.

Evacuation shelters could become havens for the virus

When Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego chief operations executive Deb McQuillen led a Scripps Medical Response Team during the Camp Fire in Northern California, they dealt with a norovirus outbreak among some of the evacuees who needed their care.


The registered nurse commented recently in a Sacramento Bee article about how COVID-19 might spread through evacuation shelters following a disaster like a wildfire.


Read the Sacramento Bee article: A ‘Fire of Infections’ Could Sweep California Evacuation Centers. Here’s the Plan to Stop It

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