00:47 Seashells Pile Up on Empty Beaches During Pandemic Treasured seashells wash ashore at an empty Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina as most people stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.

At a Glance Spring is prime time for severe weather, and hurricane season officially kicks off June 1.

The coronavirus pandemic is the equivalant of the entire nation being hit with a Category 5 hurricane.

Emergency management officials could be faced with resources and people already stretched to their limits. As severe weather season is in full force and hurricane season looms on the horizon, those in the crosshairs could be faced with a tough decision: Go to a shelter and risk the chance of being exposed to coronavirus, or stay home and take their chances that the weather will spare them.

Weather experts, health officials and emergency management agencies who have so far weighed in on the topic recommend that those who don't have a safe place in their houses or who live in a vulnerable structure, like a mobile home, seek shelter regardless of coronavirus.

"Do not let the virus prevent you from seeking refuge from a tornado," the American Meteorological Society said in a statement issued April 9. "If a public tornado shelter is your best available refuge from severe weather, take steps to ensure you follow CDC guidelines for physical distancing and disease prevention."

The Alabama Department of Public Health and the National Weather Service in Birmingham issued a joint statement advising people to go to shelters, as did similar agencies in Mississippi . Both states have seen tornado outbreaks this year.

"If a warning is issued for your area, you are more likely to be affected by the tornado than the virus," the statement from the Alabama officials said.

But they also noted it's up to county and city governments to decide how and when to open shelters.

"If you rely on public community shelters, now may be the time to explore other options that might keep you safer from severe weather and possibly limit your exposure to COVID-19," the statement said.

The AMS echoed that advice: "Many communities have announced that they will not open public storm shelters during the pandemic. If you rely on public shelters, like schools, stores, or community facilities, determine if that shelter will be available during the COVID-19 pandemic."

(MORE: Red Cross Overhauls Evacuation Shelter Guidelines Because of Coronavirus Pandemic)

Severe weather like tornadoes and prolonged flooding are common in the warmer months, and especially in the spring.

"Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, but the best recipe for disaster usually comes together in April and May across the Central Plains, or in tornado alley," weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles said.

In other words, we're already in the midst of both a deadly pandemic and a prime time for dangerous weather.

Many communities open tornado shelters for residents who don't have anywhere else safe to go. One mayor in Tennessee told anyone who is sick to stay away from shelters during a tornado outbreak last month, while others are looking at ways to ensure social distancing and screen people as they enter.

As severe weather season progresses, and with a hurricane season that's expected to be more active than usual fast approaching, emergency management officials across the U.S. are faced with the same difficult challenges: How to shelter people under social distancing guidelines, how to convince them to go to shelters after repeatedly telling them to stay home, and how to respond to disasters when staff and resources are already spread thin.

“There’s not a whole hell of a lot of choices," Miami-Dade Director of Emergency Management Frank Rollason told weather.com in a recent phone interview. “As my daddy would say, you gotta ride the horse you got, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“We will be here and we will address it and we will have a plan and we will do our best to execute those plans as we always do. We’re just going to have to adapt," Rollason added. "We’re going to make plans for a contingency that we didn’t have to think about last year.”

Or, really, ever.

Mark Bowen, emergency management director in Bay County, Florida, where Hurricane Michael made landfall in 2018, called planning for severe weather in the face of coronavirus "quite a new paradigm."

(LISTEN: Dangerous Weather Threatens South; COVID-19 Complicates Shelters)

Emergency management specialists are used to preparing for the worst. But the coronavirus pandemic, they say, is like the whole country being hit by a Category 5 hurricane at the same time. Resources are already spread thin, and neighboring counties and states may not be able to lend a hand like they normally would.

“If you got an Andrew hit that comes through a very populated area, we’re going to be stressed out, we’re going to be beyond our capability," Rollason said, referencing Hurricane Andrew, which devastated parts of South Florida in 1992.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1048843730.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1048843730.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1048843730.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > People wait for breakfast as they and others seek safety in a shelter as Hurricane Michael approaches on October 10, 2018, in Panama City, Florida. Officials worry about managing social distancing in shelters in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

While the Red Cross recently issued new guidelines for maintaining social distance in its shelters, local officials say it's not that easy.

“Most government entities use schools … you can only get so many people in those schools," Steven Still, director of emergency management in New Hanover County, North Carolina, told weather.com.

Nearly 7 million people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina were told to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Irma in 2017. Scores of others made the decision to leave on their own. Many went to hotels or to stay with family and friends, options that might not be available if social distancing measures and widespread shutdowns are still in effect.

Counties generally make their severe weather plans based on the number of people who would need shelter in a worst-case scenario.

In Miami-Dade, for example, the numbers are calculated to give each person in a shelter 20 square feet of "personal space." But Rollason said that doesn't necessarily allow for six feet between them, as mandated by social distancing guidelines. So the county is looking at options to have more shelters available.

“We will adapt to what we have to adapt to," he said. "We jam all the people in, we ride out the hurricane, we send them home, we separate."

(MORE: Spring Flooding Plus Coronavirus Pandemic Could Equal Disaster)

In smaller New Hanover County, Still said the more pressing concern is the resiliency of employees who are already staffing emergency operations centers 24-7 in response to coronavirus.

“Capacity’s not an issue, it’s longevity … that's certainly a concern for the health and mental well-being of our staff," he said.

Still and others also pointed out that no one can predict how the coronavirus pandemic will play out over the summer and into the early fall, which is the peak of hurricane season. Officials will have to adjust as they go.

Rollason asked his daughter, who has a young son, if she would evacuate in the event of a hurricane, even later in the season.

“She said 'You’re crazy, I’m not going to any shelter. I’m not going to (get) crammed in. People are still going to be sick,'" Rollason said.

"We’re preaching every day stay away, stay away, and now we’re going to tell them, 'Look, you’ve got to come to this place.'"

The officials say they're still working on their messaging, but Bowen said the bottom line for those in the path of severe weather remains the same: “If they’re told to evacuate, they need to heed that."

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.