Angela Blanchard, president emerita of BakerRipley, is one of Houston’s leading experts on disasters. She has been a player in helping Houston recover from multiple disasters, and at Brown University now teaches graduate-level public-policy courses on Disaster and Displacement.

We asked her about the Houston area’s response to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Shortly after the Q&A originally published, the city of Houston issued a emergency health declaration. 

Here’s why she thinks that was the right thing to do.