The Houston region, long used to coordinating a regional response to hurricanes and floods, is piecing together a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus — a threat for which there is no tried-and-true playbook, and where local officials, organizations and individuals must make decisions without much guidance from federal authorities.

Anna Coffey, CEO of The Women’s Home, turned to the Centers for Disease Control website for answers to her organization’s questions: What are best practices for quarantining someone who is mentally ill or has substance-abuse issues? What should be done for low-income housing?

Coffey, who has a background in public health, is an old hand at using the CDC’s website, and expected practical advice, such as how often to take a quarantined person’s temperature, and what sort of protective equipment her staff should wear. But she found nothing — not from the CDC, the usual source of such information; and not elsewhere, either.

“I’m looking all over the place for guidelines,” she said, “and I haven’t found much beyond ‘wash your hands.’”

At a joint news conference Wednesday afternoon, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced declarations of emergency and measures such as closing the Houston rodeo — with the goal not of containing the virus, which is now likely impossible, but of slowing its spread, so as not to overwhelm the region’s hospitals.

“This virus does not recognize political boundaries,” said Hidalgo.

Houston-based disaster-response expert Angela Blanchard says that to deal with the coronavirus, Houston needs a unified regional command structure similar to the one we use for hurricanes. In those disasters, she said, officials use the same data and communicate in similar ways. That structure is needed for the virus as well, she said - the equivalent of telling people about the size and windspeed of a storm when talking about the disease outbreak That structure is needed now, so that officials can offer the public the equivalent of the size and windspeed of the disease outbreak.

But given the Houston area’s size and complexity — its agglomeration of cities, counties, health authorities, nonprofits, hospitals, businesses, universities and more than 80 school districts — central command and control will not be easy.

There are already signs of crossed wires and differing approaches to release of information. Earlier Wednesday, the Montgomery County Hospital District held a separate press conference announcing the first “local transmission” case in Texas. But a crucial piece of information about that case — that the man had attended the Houston rodeo’s barbecue cookoff — was revealed not at the Montgomery County press conference, but by the Houston mayor.

“What we really need now are guidelines from the local health departments,” said Peter Hotez, one of the world’s leading experts on contagious disease, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.

“People need specific advice about what to do,” said Hotez. “It’s clear we’re not getting it from the White House.”

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The U.S. government has been slow to deal with previous outbreaks as well, said Hotez, noting that prior administrations bobbled responses to Ebola and anthrax. “But here in Houston and Harris County, we have great local health departments,” he said hopefully.

Among the local organizations anxious for guidance Wednesday was the Houston Swing Dance Society, which was trying to decide whether to cancel its annual Great Southwest Lindyfest. The sweaty, skin-contact-filled dance event is expected to draw hundreds of people, some from overseas, to the Houston Marriot Westchase March 19-22.

Canceling the event would cause a major financial hit to the little swing-dance society, said board president Buddy Steves. The group stands to lose tens of thousands in revenue, as well as the money for its hotel reservation. And since its Houston Arts Alliance funding is based on the previous year’s revenue, canceling this year’s event could scotch that grant for the coming year.

Opinions in the swing-dance group were divided, Steves said, but he leaned toward canceling the event. “The real issue is, it’s social dancing,” he said. “When we lead, we use our hands. At the rodeo, you don’t touch.”