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A large map showing job sites around the area is left unmanned after COVID-19 forced the command center to shut down at Belle Chasse, La. Photos by Sam Evans

COVID temporarily shuts down DR command center at Belle Chasse

September 16, 2021

By Maggie Evans, TAB Media

BELLE CHASSE, La. — When Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams arrive in the days following storms, they strategically set up Incident Command Centers at churches in and near heavily damaged areas to serve as bases of operations.

It’s in and out of these command centers that all information flows — work orders, volunteer efforts, coordination of teams, feeding, equipment. They function much like an ant hill.

And when one of those command centers can’t function properly, it brings recovery efforts to a grinding halt. That’s exactly what happened at the Incident Command Center working out of First Baptist Church Belle Chasse in Louisiana.

One of the Disaster Relief volunteers who had worked out of that command center tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home, which delayed the arrival of the next round of volunteers while the church was deep cleaned and sanitized.

Work is expected to begin again Sept. 14 with teams from Alabama and South Carolina.

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