Hurricane Isaias Rakes the Bahamas on a Track for Florida’s East Coast

The storm hit the Bahamas as it is grappling with a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus infections that has only accelerated in recent days, in what health officials are calling a second wave.

On Thursday night, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced the temporary relaxation of restrictions to give people more time to prepare for the storm. While there are formal hurricane shelters on Grand Bahama, it was unclear how officials would ensure social distancing in them.

In an interview with The Nassau Guardian, Melissa McPhee, 44, said her Grand Bahama home was protected only by a tarp on her roof, after having sustained significant flood and wind damage during Dorian. But she said that she had nowhere else to go.

Ms. McPhee said that, as someone with an underlying condition, she was at a high risk for complications from Covid-19. She was afraid to venture out to prepare for Isaias, she said, and felt that she could not chance staying in a crowded hurricane shelter.

Florida has also been grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases. There were more than 461,000 cases statewide and more than 6,500 deaths as of Friday since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. Friday was the third consecutive day that Florida set its record for the most deaths reported in a single day.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on Friday that Florida was “fully prepared for this and any future storm during this hurricane season.” He said that the division of emergency management had been working at its most active level since March, “allowing them to actively plan for hurricane season even while responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Mr. DeSantis added that early on, the division had created a protective equipment reserve for hurricane season, including 20 million masks, 22 million gloves and 1.6 million face shields.