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Characterizing Household Perceived Evacuation Behaviors in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: 2020-2021

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2025

Sumera Jiva Open the ORCID record for Sumera Jiva [Opens in a new window] ,
Arianna Hanchey Open the ORCID record for Arianna Hanchey [Opens in a new window] ,
Stephanie Kieszak  and
Amy Schnall
Sumera Jiva*
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Health Science and Practice (DEHSP)
Arianna Hanchey
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Health Science and Practice (DEHSP)
Stephanie Kieszak
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Health Science and Practice (DEHSP)
Amy Schnall
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Health Science and Practice (DEHSP)
*
Corresponding author: Sumera Jiva; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objective

Evacuation can reduce morbidity and mortality by ensuring households are safely out of the path of, and ensuing impacts from, a disaster. Our goal was to characterize potential evacuation behaviors among a nationally representative sample.

Methods

We added 10 questions to the existing Porter Novelli’s (PN) ConsumerStyles surveys in Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021.We conducted a weighted analysis using SAS 9.4 to examine distributions and estimate associations of potential evacuation behaviors of each survey separately.

Results

When asked about barriers to evacuation if public authorities announced a mandatory evacuation because of a large-scale disaster, ~7% reported nothing would prevent them from evacuating. Over half of respondents across the 3 surveys (51.1%-52.4%) had no preparedness plans, and almost two-thirds of respondents (63.7%-66.2%) did not have an emergency supply kit.

Conclusions

Knowing potential evacuation behaviors can help frame messages and provide a starting point for interventions to improve disaster preparedness and response. Overall, data show that there is much work to be done regarding evacuation behaviors and overall preparedness in the United States. These data can be used to tailor public messaging and work with partners to increase knowledge about evacuation.

Keywords

public health surveillancedisastersevacuationdisaster-related mortalityshelter surveillance
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 19 , 2025 , e16
Creative Commons
To the extent this work is subject to copyright outside of the United States, such copyright shall be assigned to Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health and licenced to the Publisher. Outside of the United States, the US Government retains a paid-up, non-exclusive, irrevocable worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public and display publicly the Contribution, and to permit others to do so. This is a work of the US Government and is not subject to copyright protection within the United States. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.
Copyright
© The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology, 2025

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