With every situation there are always lessons learned.  With the stay-at-home order issued to combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19) there are plenty of lessons to be learned that will help in other situations.  In Emergency Management we often look for the similarities with other situations for ideas to solve problems, for example,  traffic counts of vehicles leaving the County per hour after a busy holiday weekend tells us how long lead time we need to evacuate a specific amount of people from the county for a hurricane or to know shelter capabilities in the winter we can look at the 2010 Ice Storm where electric was out for three to seven days.    By posting on our Facebook page the Water by the numbers updates we hope that many of you that live in flood prone areas take note of water heights and the corresponding flooded areas so when a forecast gives a expected tide height you know where to park your car.    With every situation whether emergency or daily routine one should take a moment to step back and take a look to see if you can do it better, of if you do it more efficiently,  expense wise was it the best value and lastly was the task really necessary (are you doing the task because of habit or need).

Getting back to sheltering in place or stay at home what can be learned?  Did you have enough food and medications?   What are you short of?   What would like to have more of?  Take a few minutes and create a pantry and freezer plan where you have a base amount of food supplies on hand and when you use something you add it to your shopping list.

Lessons learned from the Coronavirus will change things for years to come.    More people maybe working from home after they tried it.   More students might take online courses.  More people might do their food shopping from home and have it delivered once they try it.    Hospitals and the medical community will be better prepared for the future for unexpected mass events.    Visiting the doctors office via the internet may be the norm for non-emergencies.   Take the time to learn some lessons.

Here are some important COVID-19 Links:

New Jersey’s COVID-19 Website

https://covid19.nj.gov/

New Jersey Homeland Security Website on rumor and disinformation

https://www.njhomelandsecurity.gov/covid19

New Jersey Department of Health  Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/NJDeptofHealth/

Cape May County Health Department Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/CapeMayCountyDepartmentofHealth/

United States COVID-19 Website

https://www.coronavirus.gov/

Center for Disease Control (CDC) Website

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html