APIC Releases New Guide to Prevent Infections in Crowded Shelters
Having Infection Preventionists on site is optimal, but guidance is meant to be turnkey for disaster coordinators
Arlington, Va. – January 16, 2024 – As natural disasters like hurricanes and forest fires strike with greater frequency and ferocity and Americans are forced into close proximity with one another in temporary shelters, the risk of infections rises exponentially.
To help prevent infections and outbreaks, APIC – the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology – updated a comprehensive infection prevention guide for federal, state, and local emergency disaster coordinators.
Compiled by APIC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases task force, “Infection Prevention and Control for Shelters during Disasters,” gives step-by-step recommendations for how coordinators can keep displaced persons and shelter personnel safe from common types of infectious diseases including gastrointestinal, skin-related, and respiratory.
“We updated the guidebook so emergency planners would have the necessary information to reduce the risk of infection before the next natural disaster hits,” said Terri Rebmann, PhD, RN, CIC, FAPIC, lead author of the updated resource and a member of APIC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases task force. “Ideally, infection prevention and control experts would be onsite as part of a locality’s disaster planning, and infection prevention would be a component of routine disaster exercises and drills. But because this is not always the case, the guide was written to be incorporated into a community disaster plan without onsite IPC professionals,” said Rebmann.
Unfortunately, disasters and infectious disease often go hand-in-hand. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey displaced tens of thousands in Harris County, Texas and triggered a seasonal influenza outbreak at a megashelter. When the Camp Fire ravaged Butte and Glenn Counties in northern California a year later, nearly 300 evacuees out of 1,100 in a crowded shelter were stricken with acute gastroenteritis from a norovirus infection.
“We urge emergency disaster coordinators to utilize this resource so that communities are able to provide the safest possible shelter for displaced residents,” said APIC 2024 President Tania Bubb, PhD, RN, CIC, FAPIC.
The updated APIC guidebook makes a series of important updates to the original 2009 document that provides recommendations to prevent and control the spread of infections in shelters:
- Updated the protocols related to:
- PPE optimization when supplies are limited
- Infection prevention for a medical/first aid area within the shelter
- Added information regarding how to manage if a humanitarian crisis coincides with a disaster or if a group of individuals displaced because of a humanitarian crisis need to be housed by the community disaster shelter
- Added a log/report for tracking infections/infectious diseases within the shelter
- Added a checklist for what an infection preventionist should do/check when they first arrive at the shelter if they were not involved in shelter planning
- Added information about partnering with public health if/when physical distancing may be required at the shelter
- Added a section about:
- Managing linens
- Universal masking
- Ventilation considerations
- Quarantine
- Sanitation planning
Founded in 1972, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the leading association for infection preventionists and epidemiologists. With more than 15,000 members, APIC advances the science and practice of infection prevention and control. APIC carries out its mission through research, advocacy, and patient safety; education, credentialing, and certification; and fostering development of the infection prevention and control workforce of the future. Together with our members and partners, we are working toward a safer world through the prevention of infection. Join us and learn more at apic.org.
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Media contacts: Aaron Cohen, aaroncohenpr@gmail.com, 301-633-6773; Liz Garman, egarman@apic.org, 202-454-2604