Remote work and climate change: Considerations for grid resilience in the 21st century.

This paper explores how the unprecedented dependence on remote work since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the demand for electricity. The paper discusses how the increased dependence on information and communication technologies has driven a shift in the daytime demand for power, from the commercial sector to the residential sector, prompting changes in the way electric utilities plan for peak load demand. As the article goes on to argue, this exposes the growing need for greater grid resilience in order to safeguard the supply of electricity in the face of increasingly frequent potential disruptions such as extreme weather events. The paper finds that emergency planners and responders, public agencies, utilities and other public and private sector stakeholders will need to collaborate ever more closely when devising and implementing solutions as well as when responding to emergencies.

Establishing a Foundation for Performance Measurement for Local Public Health Preparedness.

The development of performance measures is not a new concept in the disaster preparedness space. For over a decade, goals have been developed and tied to federal preparedness grant programs. However, these measures have been heavily criticized for their inability to truly measure preparedness. There is also growing frustration at the local level that these performance measures do not account for local readiness priorities or the outcome-driven value of emergency response activities. To define an appropriate theoretical framework for the development of performance measures, a review of the literature on existing planning and preparedness frameworks was conducted, with an iterative feedback process with a local health agency. This paper presents elements of that literature review that were most directly along with the conceptual framework that was used as a starting point for future iterations of a comprehensive performance measure development project.

Current Data Gaps in Modeling Essential Worker Absenteeism Due to COVID-19.

With the uncertain physical and mental health implications of COVID-19 infection, companies have taken a myriad of actions that aim to reduce the risk of employees contracting the virus, with most grounded in reducing or eliminating in-person interactions. Our preliminary analysis indicates that while there is some data to support modelling absenteeism, there are gaps in the available evidence, requiring the use of assumptions that limit precision and efficacy for decision support. Improved data on time-to-recovery after hospitalization, absenteeism due to family or other household member illness, and mental health's impact on returning to work will support the development of more robust absenteeism models and analytical approaches.

Initial Coronavirus Disease-2019 Closure Strategies Adopted by a Convenience Sample of US School Districts: Directions for Future Research.

School closures are an important strategy to mitigate the impacts of a pandemic. But an optimal approach to transitioning from in-person to distance learning approaches is lacking. We analyzed a convenience sample of public K-12 schools in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. This initial snapshot provides some insights to inform future research into the variation of strategies across school districts, and would benefit from more rigorous methods to determine true correlations between demographic and geographic factors. Additionally, many of these strategies have evolved in response to ongoing and prolonged public health social distancing measures implemented after this analysis was conducted.

Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools : Analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA.

To enhance the preparedness of US schools to acts of terrorism and mass violence, the landscape of threats against schools must first be understood. This includes exploring the global trends of acts of terrorism against schools, as well as looking specifically at the history of terrorism and acts of mass violence against schools domestically. This paper conducts a review of two databases in order to look at the trends in acts of terrorism and mass violence carried out against schools, and provides recommendations for domestic school preparedness based on this information.

Crisis Decision-Making During Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Established and Emergent Disaster Response Behaviors in the New York Metro Area.

OBJECTIVE: This collective case study examined how and why specific organizational decision-making processes transpired at 2 large suburban county health departments in lower New York State during their response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The study also examined the relationships that the agencies developed with other emerging and established organizations within their respective health systems. METHODS: In investigating these themes, the authors conducted in-depth, one-on-one interviews with 30 senior-level public health staff and first responders; reviewed documentation; and moderated 2 focus group discussions with 17 participants. RESULTS: Although a natural hazard such as a hurricane was not an unexpected event for these health departments, they nevertheless confronted a number of unforeseen challenges during the response phase: prolonged loss of power and fuel, limited situational awareness of the depth and breadth of the storm's impact among disaster-exposed populations, and coordination problems with a number of organizations that emerged in response to the disaster. CONCLUSIONS: Public health staff had few plans or protocols to guide them and often found themselves improvising and problem-solving with new organizations in the context of an overburdened health care system (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:436-442).

Disaster prepared: How federal funding in the USA supports health system and public health readiness.

Federal funding for health and medical preparedness in the USA has created an important foundation for preparing the health and medical systems to respond to a wide range of hazards. A declining trend in funding for these preparedness activities threatens to undo the progress that has been made over the last decade and reduce the state of readiness to respond to the health and medical impacts of disasters.

Summary of the current operational epidemiological modelling landscape.

Through the National Center for Integrated Civilian-Military Domestic Disaster Medical Response, the Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response and US Northern Command have initiated a study to determine the requirements of a national operational epidemiological modelling process. During a public health emergency, decision makers often require a variety of epidemiological information, including prospective forecasts that can be made available in the form of models. Currently, there is no formal process across US Government agencies and departments to synchronise epidemiological models with response organisations. The research presented here summarises the landscape of the modelling and consequence management communities for the purpose of informing the development of a proposed national operational epidemiological modelling process.