Koloushani Mohammadreza, Ghorbanzadeh Mahyar, Gray Nicholas, Raphael Pamela, Erman Ozguven Eren, Charness Neil, Yazici Anil, Boot Walter R, Eby David W, Molnar Lisa J
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, 2525 Pottsdamer Street, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA.
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, 1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
Transp Res Interdiscip Perspect. 2022 Sep;15:100676. doi: 10.1016/j.trip.2022.100676. Epub 2022 Aug 19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected our day-to-day life in the last few years. This problem becomes even more challenging when older adults are considered due to their less powerful immune system and vulnerability to infectious diseases, especially in Florida where 4.5 million people aged 65 and over reside. With its long coastline, large and rapidly growing of older adult population, and geographic diversity, Florida is also uniquely vulnerable to hurricanes, which significantly increases the associated risks of COVID-19 even further. This study investigates older adults' evacuation-related concerns during COVID-19 using statistical analysis of a questionnaire conducted among 389 older adult Florida residents. The questionnaire includes questions concerning demographic information and older adults' attitudes toward hurricane-induced evacuations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ordered Probit regression models were developed to investigate the impacts of demographic parameters on older adults' tendencies toward evacuating as well as their preferences to stay at home or shelter during the pandemic. The model results reveal that male participants felt safer to evacuate compared to females. Also, any decrease in the level of income was associated with an increase in the need for help for evacuation by 18%. Findings indicated that the participants who found the evacuation safe normally also had a positive attitude toward staying in their vehicle, hotel, or even shelters if maintaining social distance was possible. Emergency management policies can utilize these findings to enhance hurricane preparations for dealing with the additional health risks posed by the pandemic for older adults, a situation that could be exacerbated by the upcoming hurricane season in Florida.
在过去几年里，新冠疫情极大地影响了我们的日常生活。考虑到老年人免疫系统较弱且易感染传染病，这个问题变得更具挑战性，尤其是在佛罗里达州，有450万65岁及以上的老年人居住。佛罗里达州拥有漫长的海岸线、庞大且快速增长的老年人口以及地理多样性，也特别容易受到飓风影响，这进一步显著增加了新冠疫情的相关风险。本研究通过对389名佛罗里达州老年居民进行问卷调查的统计分析，调查了新冠疫情期间老年人与疏散相关的担忧。问卷包括有关人口统计信息以及老年人在新冠疫情期间对飓风引发疏散的态度等问题。构建了有序概率回归模型，以研究人口统计参数对老年人疏散倾向的影响，以及他们在疫情期间居家或前往避难所的偏好。模型结果显示，与女性相比，男性参与者感觉疏散更安全。此外，收入水平的任何下降都与疏散求助需求增加18%相关。研究结果表明，那些认为疏散安全的参与者，如果能够保持社交距离，通常对待在自己的车里、酒店甚至避难所也持积极态度。应急管理政策可以利用这些研究结果，加强飓风应对准备，以应对疫情给老年人带来的额外健康风险，而佛罗里达州即将到来的飓风季节可能会使这种情况更加恶化。
