NOLA Health, Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Departments Update Residents On 2020 Challenges, Accomplishments

From the City of New Orleans:

January 6, 2021

The year 2020 was marked by several large-scale emergency incidents including the COVID-19 pandemic and several tropical weather events. Today, the City of New Orleans is highlighting the dedicated work of its emergency preparedness and response staff housed in the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP) and in the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) and the contributions they made in 2020 to keep New Orleanians safe.

"I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the grace under pressure shown by our staff and workers in the New Orleans Health Department and New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Department in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020. This year will be the one we remember for the expertise, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice of our health workers during what at times must have felt like an overwhelming task. We see you and we appreciate you. We also know the hard work is not over, but also that you remain up to the task. We will be with you every step of the way," said Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

Here is a breakdown of work performed by the two departments throughout 2020:

COVID Preparedness

In January 2020, NOHD began coordinating with the Louisiana Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to prepare for the potential arrival of the Novel Coronavirus in Louisiana, a month before the first U.S. case and two months before the first case in New Orleans. At the beginning of March, NOHSEP and NOHD, along with key local, State and Federal public safety agencies, conducted an exercise to test response plans in the event of an outbreak in New Orleans. Those plans were put into practice days later, when the first case was identified in New Orleans on March 9. With the leadership of NOHD, Mayor Cantrell swiftly ordered the closure of non-essential activities and halted special events to stem the spread of the virus, which was quickly identified to be widespread in the community. Using science, public health best practices, and deep community knowledge, NOHD drove polices to “flatten the curve” successfully and sustainably for the remainder of the year.

Testing, Healthcare and Vaccines

NOHSEP and NOHD began working immediately with State and Federal partners to secure COVID-19 testing for New Orleans residents. New Orleans was chosen as one of a handful of cities to pilot a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services drive-thru testing program. On March 19, New Orleans became the first city in the country to put the federally supported drive-thru testing program into action, at a time when many other cities had very few options for their residents to access testing. Recognizing the scope of the pandemic and that the needs of the community required a more comprehensive and thoughtful approach, NOHD along with partners from LCMC and LSU developed one of the first community-based testing sites in the country in April, a model for other communities with a focus on areas of highest need and least access. Through partnerships with CORE and the NOLA Public Schools, NOHD was able to assist in securing more than $1 million to support testing efforts citywide. NOHSEP and NOHD continue to support free, walk-up and drive-thru testing sites every week and has offered testing at a total of more than 50 different locations, ensuring accessibility for all New Orleans residents. To date, more than 530,000 tests have been run on New Orleans residents, leading to some of the highest testing rates of any community.

NOHSEP and NOHD also contributed resources and personnel to support the operation of the State-led medical surge facility at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, intended to reduce burden on hospitals by serving as a “step-down” facility for recovering patients. The facility was set up for 1,000 beds with the ability to expand to 2,000 based on projected case count and hospitalization numbers in the spring. City support, including data visualization and analysis, continued throughout its operation from the first patient on April 6 through Oct. 29.

During the first wave of the pandemic, NOHSEP negotiated a $500,000 AirBnB donation of housing for first responders, healthcare workers, and essential City workers who were in need of housing to isolate and reduce the COVID-19 risk to their family or vulnerable loved ones. NOHSEP assisted AirBnB in extending the program to several local area hospitals. NOHSEP also worked with AirBnB and the Family Justice Center to set up an additional donation program to support survivors of domestic violence in need of safe housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NOHD and NOHSEP COVID-19 response efforts continue to expand and are now significantly focused on vaccine administration. City of New Orleans first responders are currently receiving the COVID-19 vaccination as part of the Phase 1A priority group. Additionally, NOHD and NOHSEP are gearing up to open vaccine sites that will be available to seniors age 70 and older within the coming weeks, with support from the Louisiana Department of Health.

PPE acquisition, Sanitization, and Distribution

The acquisition of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been an ongoing logistical challenge worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. NOHSEP has led these efforts with proactive and creative strategies to ensure that first responders and residents have been able to access PPE to protect themselves and their loved ones. NOHSEP has secured more than 2 million of units of masks, gloves, hands sanitizer, and face shields through numerous acquisitions and donations from corporations, nonprofit agencies, and individual residents. Donors included the GOA Foundation, Panda Express, Hanes, Americares, Sherwin Williams, Lowes, The Ladies of Hope Ministries, Matthew 25 Ministries, Grassroots Aid Partnership, Help the Helpers, and many others. Due to the volume of PPE acquisitions, NOHSEP partnered with Smoothie King Center to use the main arena floor as a staging warehouse in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NOHSEP worked with FEMA, who coordinated the delivery and operation of a PPE decontamination system to sanitize used N95 respirators for reuse. Through this program, agencies and healthcare facilities statewide were able to treat and reuse thousands of N95 masks.

NOHSEP managed the distribution of PPE to all City staff, as well as schools, funeral homes, the Sheriff’s Office, Courts, Coroner’s Office, Regional Transit Authority, and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. NOHSEP also coordinated the distribution of more than half a million cloth masks to residents, houses of worship, and nonprofit agencies to ensure the safety of New Orleans communities, many of whom are working in essential jobs or helping in pandemic response efforts. Masks were also provided via SewDat, a joint effort between the New Orleans City Council and the City of New Orleans to connect mask makers with essential workers and residents.

Food and Meals

From the onset of the pandemic, NOHSEP has worked with local foodbanks and nonprofit organizations providing food to residents affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic. In July, the City launched the COVID-19 Meal Assistance Program, which delivers twice-daily, restaurant-made meals to seniors, high-risk health adults, residents with special medical needs, homeless residents, residents who have tested positive or have been exposed to COVID-19 and are quarantining, and children 18 and under who are not receiving other federally-supported food assistance. Now in its seventh month, the program has provided more than 2 million meals for about 16,500 New Orleans residents.

Meals are produced by more than 80 local restaurants, through a partnership of the Chef's Brigade, Revolution Foods, and the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI). According to a recent survey conducted by the Chef's Brigade of the restaurants participating in the meal program, the program has brought back more than 500 local jobs and served as a lifeline to local restaurants hard hit by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hurricane Response

NOHSEP and NOHD were also integral in responding to multiple hurricane and tropical weather events. New Orleans was in the cone of uncertainty seven times during the 2020 hurricane season, experiencing direct impacts from Tropical Storm Cristobal and Hurricane Zeta. NOHSEP led the City’s Emergency Operations Center for each of these incidents, coordinating public safety, infrastructure and human services response. NOHD, with support from NOHSEP, operated shelters for residents with medical and special needs impacted by these storms. Throughout hurricane season, the combined threat of a tropical system and the ongoing pandemic challenged both agencies to adapt sheltering and evacuation plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during hurricane response.

After Hurricane Laura devastated parts of Southwest Louisiana, New Orleans received more than 15,000 evacuees who were sheltered in hotels in the city. NOHSEP and NOHD assisted the State in sheltering operations by providing Emergency Operations Center support and data tools, coordinating health services and equipment, and setting up a resource center for evacuees. The resource center ran for three weeks and provided evacuees with social services, healthcare, COVID testing, hygiene items, supplies, and clothing. NOHSEP managed hundreds of volunteers who contributed more than 1,700 hours to receive, sort, and distribute tens of thousands of donations to evacuees. NOHSEP also oversaw the transition of resource center operations to Hands On New Orleans, contracted by the State.

Coordinating Volunteers

Emergency response efforts related to COVID-19 and hurricane season would not be possible without the help of hundreds of volunteers. In 2020, NOHSEP founded the NOLA Ready Volunteer Corps to assist in these efforts. Volunteers with the NOLA Ready Volunteer Corps and the existing New Orleans Medical Reserve Corps contributed significantly to pandemic and hurricane response by staffing testing sites, shelters, call centers, the Hurricane Laura evacuee resource center and assisting with public safety exercises. In 2020, volunteers provided more than 3,000 hours of service related to public safety. Medical and non-medical volunteers will be integral in upcoming vaccine efforts. For more information on how to volunteer, please visit ready.nola.gov/volunteer.

Informing the Public

Throughout the pandemic and hurricane season, NOHSEP and NOHD have prioritized public information to ensure residents have the most up-to-date information about the emergency at hand. Using text alerts, social media, billboards, bus advertisements, press conferences, and other mediums, NOHSEP has provided information on current transmission trends, prevention and safety tips, reopening policies, and resources for residents through its NOLA Ready program. There are 430,000 active subscribers who receive information via the NOLA Ready emergency alert system. Additionally, NOHD administers the City’s Special Needs Registry to provide information and assistance to roughly 3,500 residents with access and functional needs. NOHSEP received multiple awards in 2020 for its public information, including from the National Weather Service and Everbridge.

Additional Accomplishments

• The NOHD Domestic Violence (DV) team presented initial findings on intimate partner and family violence homicides in New Orleans and announced the formation of a formal Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team with more than 30 criminal justice and community partners, the first of its kind in the city. With the assistance of New Orleans EMS, the DV team partnered with the New Orleans Health Department’s emergency response team and the Louisiana Department of Health to disseminate domestic violence resources and information among shelter staff and evacuees from Hurricane Laura. Additionally, the DV team trained more than 30 Medical Reserve Corps volunteers in how to respond to domestic violence survivors in a disaster.
• Healthy Start New Orleans was awarded a $50,000 grant from UnitedHealthcare to support maternal health wrap around support services.
• Through NOHD, New Orleans was chosen to be one of four pilot cities nationally to develop and implement outpatient maternal health safety bundles, with the goal of direct reduction in maternal mortality rates.
• Healthcare for the Homeless expanded locations to Algiers and both medical and dental services in its other City locations.
• WIC services pivoted to continue accessibility and services to clients by creating a drive up appointment model and online registration to safely service new and existing clients and preserve benefits during a time of critical need.
• NOHD received grant funding of more than $700,000 and additional City funds of more than $300,000 to directly address the opioid crisis through education, outreach, and direct treatment.
• Behavioral health staff responded to the mental health challenges of COVID-19 by partnering to provide resource lists, identify available services, and a town hall for residents.
• NOHD’s Ryan White Program received more than $11 million in funds to support emergency needs, treatment and services to HIV/AIDS patients, resulting in continuing declines in new and advanced disease in this long-standing epidemic.
• NOHSEP maintained robust public engagement with the Hazard Mitigation Plan update process despite the challenges of the pandemic and completed a draft of the plan in 2020.
• NOHSEP completed work and requested grant closeout on all historic Katrina/Recovery era projects.
• NOHSEP secured grant funding from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and partnered with CPRA to advance the New Orleans East landbridge coastal wetland restoration project.
• NOHSEP moved construction forward on funded elevation projects and secured new funding for dozens more properties, including the Zulu Club building.
• NOHSEP installed 65 new City-owned public safety cameras.
• NOHSEP integrated over 50 privately owned cameras through the SafeCam Platinum partnership program.
• NOHSEP saw a more than 20% increase in Real-Time Crime Center cases handled over FY19. This is in addition to the 107% increase in cases handled between FY18 and FY19.

This press release was produced by the City of New Orleans. The views expressed are the author's own.