Articles / Resources for week of July 20, 2020

Resources

The State of High Tide Flooding and Annual Outlook (NOAA) Each year, NOAA documents changes in high-tide flooding patterns from the previous year at 98 NOAA tide gauges along the U.S. coast, and provides a flooding outlook for these locations for the coming year, as well as projections for the next several decades. High-tide flooding, often referred to as “nuisance” or “sunny day” flooding, is increasingly common due to years of relative sea level increases. It occurs when tides reach anywhere from 1.75 to 2 feet above the daily average high tide and start spilling onto streets or bubbling up from storm drains. As sea level rise continues, damaging floods that decades ago happened only during a storm now happen more regularly, such as during a full-moon tide or with a change in prevailing winds or currents.

Evidence-Based Practices for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: Assessment of and Recommendations for the Field (NAS) When communities face complex public health emergencies, state local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies must make difficult decisions regarding how to effectively respond. The public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) system, with its multifaceted mission to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from public health emergencies, is inherently complex and encompasses policies, organizations, and programs. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has invested billions of dollars and immeasurable amounts of human capital to develop and enhance public health emergency preparedness and infrastructure to respond to a wide range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Despite the investments in research and the growing body of empirical literature on a range of preparedness and response capabilities and functions, there has been no national-level, comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields.

Articles

All-Hazards:

• Oil Spills: New Lessons from the Worst Oil Spill Disaster Ever (HS Newswire)
• Partnerships Prove Vital During Community Coronavirus Response (EM /Gov Tech)
• Dispatches from Navajo Nation and Its Battle with COVID-19 (Governing)
• Maryland Uncovers Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Scheme (Pew: Stateline)
• Data Reveals How Washington DC Region Is Weathering Economic Downturn(MWCOG)
• A New Way Of Looking At Earthquake Plans (Dom Prep)
• How Peer-To-Peer Texting Could Play A Role In Disaster And Pandemic Response(Nextgov) and Social Media Analytics to Help in Emergency(iHLS)
• Hurricane Maria’s Impact On Puerto Rico’s Population Will Last For Decades, Study Shows (Phys.org)

Resilience:

• New Data Show an ‘Extraordinary’ Rise in U.S. Coastal Flooding (NY Times)
• Miami Broke an All-Time Record for High Tide Floods in 2019, NOAA Says (Bradenton Herald)
• N.J. Campaign Urges Protection Against Increased Flood Risk (EM /Gov Tech)

Public Health / Biosurveillance:

• Association Between State-Level Income Inequality and COVID-19 Cases and Mortality in the USA (J of General Internal Medicine)
• Florida Breaks U.S. Coronavirus Record for Most New Cases in a Day (New York Times)
• Reopened Schools in Europe and Asia Have Largely Avoided Coronavirus Outbreaks. They Have Lessons for the U.S.(Washington Post)
• Scientists Call for Pandemic Investigations to Focus on Wildlife Trade(Nature)
• California Closes Indoor Businesses Statewide As COVID-19 Cases Surge (NPR)
• How to Fix the Covid-19 Dumpster Fire in the U.S.(STAT)
• Hospital Officials, Experts Say New Federal Rules for Covid-19 Reporting Will Add Burdens During Pandemic(Washington Post)
• BARDA, Sonica Health to Develop Wearable COVID-19 Infection Monitoring Patch. (Homeland Preparedness News)
• Scientists Create a Speedy Finger-prick Test to Scan for Radiation Exposure in Mice(STAT News)
• Sandia National Laboratories launches desktop data mining effort to aid COVID-19 research efforts (Homeland Prep News)
• Mask Rules Expand Across U.S. as Clashes Over the Mandates Intensify (New York Times)
• Covid-19 Data is a Public Good. The US Government Must Start Treating it Like One (MIT Technology Review)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola Cases Rise, Surpass Previous Outbreak (World Health Organization)

Critical Infrastructure & Cyber:

• Increases in Health-Related Workplace Absenteeism Among Workers in Essential Critical Infrastructure Occupations During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, March–April 2020. (CDC)
• Cybersecurity Needs Its Place in Emergency Management Now (CPO Magazine)

Innovations & Interconnections:

• Report: Governments Should Turn to AI Before Disaster Strikes (Pew: Rt. Fifty)
• Stranded Assets: Lenders With the Best Climate Data Will Be in a Position to Discriminate (Bloomberg)
• Why We’re So Bad at Preparing for Disasters (Nat. Review)