Evaluating the “whole community” concept based on the national response to COVID‐19

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• Author: Michael Dunaway,Brenda Bannan
• Date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13711

VIEWPOINT

Evaluating the “whole community”concept based on the

national response to COVID-19

Michael Dunaway

1

| Brenda Bannan

2

1

National Institute of Standards and Technology,

Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA

2

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

Correspondence

Michael Dunaway, National Institute of

Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,

MD, USA.

Email: michael.dunaway@nist.gov

Abstract

This article summarizes an 18‐month study of the national response to the COVID‐

19 pandemic as viewed from the individual perspectives of a team of local emer-

gency management professionals. The research project evaluated the COVID‐19

response based on a concept articulated by the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a “whole

community approach”to disaster preparedness and public health, which became

the de facto organizing structure for the COVID‐19 national response. The research

project identifies significant deficiencies in implementation of that concept, and

offers some recommendations for defining a true “whole community approach”to

public health and safety as a mitigation strategy against future national‐scale civic

emergencies.

Evidence for practice

During the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal, state, and local

emergency managers mobilized alongside public health officials to deal with a

national health emergency that touched every community in the nation. The

response was jointly coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

underaconceptknownas“whole community response.”This Viewpoint article

offers an evaluation of the first 18 months of the COVID-19 response based on

the lived experiences of a team of professional emergency managers at FEMA’s

Emergency Management Institute (EMI). Key findings of the study included the

following:

•During the period of this evaluation from March 2019 to October 2021, there

was a lack of communication and coordination between responding agencies at

all levels—federal, state, and local—and frequently mixed messages between

federal and state governments.

•The lack of coherent, consistent guidance from the federal government resulted

in the delegation of critical operations to the states, with no unified command

or purpose.

•Integration of community partners to include non-governmental organizations

(NGOs), private sector entities, and community leaders was not a priority and

represented a significant lost opportunity for mobilization of an effective

national response.

•Identification, classification, and protection of personnel essential to the continu-

ity of community operations, public services, and local economies was not

understood as a limiting factor in the effective response to a long-duration

event such as a pandemic.

The recommendations, findings, and conclusions in this report are the work of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FEMA, CDC, NIST, or other

agencies of the United States Government. Moreover, the study reflects the personal experiences of the members of the research team during the COVID-19 response, and

are not necessarily representative of the broader experiences of their respective agencies and organizations.

Received: 31 March 2022 Revised: 25 September 2022 Accepted: 27 July 2023

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13711

1394 © 2023 American Society for Public Administration. Public Admin Rev. 2023;83:1394–1403.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/puar