Hurricane shelters are to have isolations rooms for likely COVID-19 cases.

That assurance was given by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, on Tuesday as he addressed the launch of the national hurricane preparedness campaign for the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season which runs from June 1 to November 30.

The launch took place at Jamaica House.

“The question has been raised about isolation in regards to COVID-19. All our shelters are equipped with isolation areas so that persons, if they come down with COVID, will be relocated to these shelters,” McKenzie stated.

Based on predictions from meteorologists, the hurricane season is expected to be a busy one and, according to McKenzie, up to 90 per cent of the over 800 shelters across the island are in a state of readiness.

“We are almost 100 per cent ready in terms of our shelters. There are 867 shelters island-wide and we have done assessments on almost 90 per cent of shelters…,” said McKenzie.

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