by The National Governors Association (NGA) organized a webinar to announce the release of the governors Public health emergency scenariothe culmination of a multi-year effort to capture and share best practices in an action-oriented format with governors’ offices preparing for, responding to, and recovering from public health emergencies that regularly impact states and territories.
The Playbook was developed through significant research and extensive interviews with federal, state and local entities to capture best practices. The Playbook was also informed by insights from state and territory leaders at a 2023 workshop focused on preparing for future public health emergencies, co-hosted by NGA and the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials. Collectively, the perspectives of more than thirty states and territories, as well as key federal agencies, have contributed to the development of the Playbook.
The discussion during the webinar also included state experts who shared their perspectives on implementing promising practices to identify and respond to future public health threats, improve public health infrastructure, and respond to concurrent emergencies.
Additional topics discussed included:
- Governors who build a culture of preparedness within their states play an important role in strengthening the state’s response to a crisis.
- Establishing an emergency coordination rhythm through tabletop exercises or other inter-agency and department efforts in advance of a crisis will make a response more efficient.
- Governors use structures such as task forces and similar structures through emergency management principles to focus, prioritize and organize responses to key public health issues.
The Playbook has been drawn up by the NGA Center for Best Practices in consultation with Avoq. This work, along with the workshop, was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, or an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.
Transcript available on YouTube
Presenters
- Jessica Davenport, Homeland Security Program Director, NGA
- Lauren Dedon, Senior Legal Policy Advisor, NGA
- Nathan Weed, Chief of Resiliency and Health Security, Washington State Health Department
- Kevin Klein, director and homeland security advisor, Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
- Jamie Birch, policy director for Governor Mike Parson’s office
