APAD: Shelter in place

Shelter-in-place (SIP; also known as a shelter-in-place warning, SAME code SPW) is the act of seeking safety within the building one already occupies, rather than evacuating the area or seeking a community emergency shelter. The American Red Cross says the warning is issued when "chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants may be released accidentally or intentionally into the environment" and residents should "select a small, interior room, with no or few windows, taking refuge there."

During an epidemic or pandemic with an infectious agent posing significant risk of death or severe illness such as ebola or SARS, authorities may recommend shelter-in-place for the general population or for segments of the population at high-risk. Unlike other shelter-in-place incidents, recommendations may only be for particular at-risk populations (e.g., the elderly, the immunocompromised) and the recommended duration may be for an extended period of time (days, weeks or months). Shelter-in-place may be implemented as a strategy for suppressing or mitigating an epidemic, for reducing numbers of critically ill patients presenting at the same time and for thus reducing the impact of critical illness on health care systems and reducing the likelihood that a surge in illness will overwhelm critical care resources.

A provincewide emergency alert popped up from my cellphone at 5:40pm on Thursday urged Pickering residents to shelter in place after a woman was fatally stabbed, Police arrested 13-year-old boy after senior fatally stabbed in Pickering, lift shelter-in-place alert. 'No longer a danger to the public'