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From NPR.

Monica Filio Mohar was terrified when COVID-19 hit Puerto Rico.

It was really scary.

I mean, I think that's the thing that I remember the most.

Being really scared about the uncertainty, you know, what the Riga has been through a lot

in the past, especially in the past, for years with hurricanes, earthquakes, a pandemic,

you know, political instability.

Monica's the director of communications and science outreach for Cienzia Puerto Rico.

Well, Lingard in her mind most of all was Hurricane Maria in 2017.

You know, people, a lot of people, especially marginalized communities around Puerto Rico,

they were left to their own devices.

Thousands of people died.

And after Maria, some communities didn't have power for nearly a year.

The island is still very much recovering.

Monica was worried that COVID would be, in her words, a Hurricane Maria 2.0.

The failure of the government to be prepared and respond to Hurricane Maria,

I was concerned that that was going to happen again, that things were just going to go into total chaos.

That the pandemic was just going to hit so hard that the healthcare system could collapse

and that people were just going to die.

Now, initially, the pandemic did hit Puerto Rico hard.

First in 2020, then with a big spike last spring.

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