The regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and coordinating officer for COVID-19 response and recovery in New England said his agency is maintaining logistical and other capabilities in the region, even though the surge is over, just in case there is a second wave.
Retired Coast Guard Capt. Russell Webster’s resume includes supervising part of FEMA’s response to the Boston Marathon bombings and Tropical Storm Irene, leading Coast Guard operations in the Northeast in the wake of Sept. 11, and overseeing the response to the crash of John F. Kennedy Junior’s flight in 1999, and the Egypt Air Flight 990 air crash.
He described the COVID-19 outbreak, which led to emergency declarations in all 50 states and some U.S. territories, as “unprecedented.”