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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Student’s Name
Instructor
Course
Date

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Communities are the heart of every nation and where most people are born. The upkeep of
good health is essential for the flourishing of communities. Most third-world governments cannot
provide for all community health and care requirements because of a lack of funding or,
occasionally, theft of cash. Non-governmental groups typically step in to assist when needed
because of this. One of these institutions is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.
This paper will analyze the CDC's function and the community's people.
CDC’s Capacity to Protect the health of the people
The CDC works to protect people from health dangers and save lives by providing health
data and conducting a scientific inquiry to determine the most effective program to implement.
Additionally, the CDC runs a variety of public health initiatives, such as campaigns to promote
vaccinations, manage chronic conditions, and prevent infectious diseases.
CDC’s Capacity to Improve Quality of Life and Encourage Equal Opportunity and
Demonstrate Preparedness for New Health Threats
The CDC has a 6/18 program that assures collaboration between private and public
healthcare stakeholders, providers, and purchasers to lower healthcare costs and improve health
outcomes (Seeff, McGinnis & Heishman, 2018). This program connects proven preventative
approaches to health care and coverage, focusing on six high-cost, high-burden scenarios. The 18
measures encompass a variety of evidence-based solutions to the six situations. Asthma, incorrect
antibiotic usage, cigarette use, unexpected pregnancies, high blood pressure, and diabetes all
impact health and raise expenses. As a result, the 6/18 program integrates evidence with actionable
activities.
Through the (PHEP, the CDC's Center for Preparedness and Response aids in developing
resilient communities. The CDC's Center also urges people to look out for one another because a

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community's greatest assets are its people and their ties. Individuals who are individually prepared,
involved, and socially connected are frequently better equipped to protect themselves and are more
eager and ready to assist others in times of difficulty. This assists the community in considering
methods to help prepare themselves and others for emergency response.
Ultimately, the CDC plays an essential role in meeting societal health needs at the
community level. The agency participates in various strategies and projects to promote people's
safety and health. In addition, it bestows and supports equal opportunity and diversity, meaning it
is involved in other critical community concerns beyond healthcare.

References

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Seeff, L. C., McGinnis, T., & Heishman, H. (2018). CDC's 6| 18 Initiative: A Cross-Sector
Approach.
Translating Evidence into Practice. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 24(5), 424431.DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000782

Please view explanation and answer below.Hello. Please find the attached document. I have updated the format to APA 6 Edition. Thank you.
Attached.

Public Health
Emergency
Preparedness
and Response
Capabilities

National Standards for
State, Local, Tribal, and
Territorial Public Health

October 2018
Updated January 2019

Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
Center for Preparedness
and Response

Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Capability Update Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Using the Capability Standards for Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities Planning Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Phase 1: Assess Current State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Phase 2: Determine Strategies and Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Phase 3: Develop Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Capability 1: Community Preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Capability 2: Community Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Capability 3: Emergency Operations Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Capability 4: Emergency Public Information and Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Capability 5: Fatality Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Capability 6: Information Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Capability 7: Mass Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Capability 8: Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Capability 9: Medical Materiel Management and Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Capability 10: Medical Surge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Capability 11: Nonpharmaceutical Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Capability 12: Public Health Laboratory Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Capability 13: Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Capability 14: Responder Safety and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Capability 15: Volunteer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

iii

Table of Contents

Capability 1: Community Preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Function 1: D
 etermine risks to the health of the jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Function 2: Strengthen community partnerships to support public health preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Function 3: Coordinate with partners and share information through community
social networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Function 4: Coordinate training and provide guidance to support community
involvement with preparedness efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Capability 2: Community Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Function 1: I dentify and monitor community recovery needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Function 2: Support recovery operations for public health and related systems
for the community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Function 3: Implement corrective actions to mitigate damage from future incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Capability 3: Emergency Operations Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Function 1: C
 onduct preliminary assessment to determine the need for activation
of public health emergency operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Function 2: Activate public health emergency operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Function 3: Develop and maintain an incident response strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Function 4: Manage and sustain the public health response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Function 5: D
 emobilize and evaluate public health emergency operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Capability 4: Emergency Public Information and Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Function 1: A
 ctivate the emergency public information system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Function 2: Determine the need for a Joint Information System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Function 3: Establish and participate in information system operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Function 4: Establish avenues for public interaction and information exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Function 5: I ssue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Capability 5: Fatality Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Function 1: D
 etermine the public health agency role in fatality management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Function 2: Identify and facilitate access to public health resources to support
fatality management operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Function 3: Assist in the collection and dissemination of antemortem data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Function 4: Support the provision of survivor mental/behavioral health services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Function 5: S upport fatality processing and storage operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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Table of Contents

Capability 6: Information Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Function 1: I dentify stakeholders that should be incorporated into information
flow and define information sharing needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Function 2: Identify and develop guidance, standards, and systems for
information exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Function 3: E xchange information to determine a common operating picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Capability 7: Mass Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Function 1: D
 etermine public health role in mass care operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Function 2: Determine mass care health needs of the impacted population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Function 3: C
 oordinate public health, health care, and mental/behavioral health services . . . . . . . . . . 75
Function 4: Monitor mass care population health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Capability 8: Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Function 1: D
 etermine medical countermeasure dispensing/administration strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Function 2: Receive medical countermeasures to be dispensed/administered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Function 3: A
 ctivate medical countermeasure dispensing/administration operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Function 4: Dispense/administer medical countermeasures to targeted population(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Function 5: R
 eport adverse events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Capability 9: Medical Materiel Management and Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Function 1: D
 irect and activate medical materiel management and distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Function 2: Acquire medical materiel from national stockpiles or other supply sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Function 3: Distribute medical materiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Function 4: Monitor medical materiel inventories and medical materiel
distribution operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Function 5: R
 ecover medical materiel and demobilize distribution operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Capability 10: Medical Surge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Function 1: A
 ssess the nature and scope of the incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Function 2: Support activation of medical surge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Function 3: S upport jurisdictional medical surge operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Function 4: Support demobilization of medical surge operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

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Table of Contents

Capability 11: Nonpharmaceutical Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Function 1: E ngage partners and identify factors that impact nonpharmaceutical
interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Function 2: Determine nonpharmaceutical interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Function 3: Implement nonpharmaceutical interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Function 4: Monitor nonpharmaceutical interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Capability 12: Public Health Laboratory Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Function 1: C
 onduct laboratory testing and report results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Function 2: Enhance laboratory communications and coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Function 3: Support training and outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Capability 13: Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Function 1: C
 onduct or support public health surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Function 2: Conduct public health and epidemiological investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Function 3: Recommend, monitor, and analyze mitigation actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Function 4: Improve public health surveillance and epidemiological investigation systems . . . . . . . . 136

Capability 14: Responder Safety and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Function 1: I dentify responder safety and health risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Function 2: Identify and support risk-specific responder safety and health training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Function 3: Monitor responder safety and health during and after incident response . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Capability 15: Volunteer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Function 1: R
 ecruit, coordinate, and train volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Function 2: Notify, organize, assemble, and deploy volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Function 3: Conduct or support volunteer safety and health monitoring and surveillance . . . . . . . . . 151
Function 4: Demobilize volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Introduction

P

ublic health systems play an integral role in
preparing communities to respond to and
recover from threats and emergencies. The public
health consequences of disasters and emergencies
initially affect local jurisdictions. During the initial
response, the people and communities that are
impacted must rely on local community resources.
As a result, all state, local, tribal, and territorial
emergency response stakeholders must be
prepared to coordinate, cooperate, and collaborate
with cross-sector partners and organizations at
all governmental levels when emergencies occur,
regardless of the type, scale, or severity.
While public health agencies are expected to
take the lead when infectious disease outbreaks
occur, jurisdictional public health agencies also
must be prepared to coordinate with a diverse
array of partners and stakeholders, including other
government agencies to refine public health lead
and support roles, responsibilities, and assignments
when other technological, human-caused, or
natural disasters occur.
In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) established the Public Health
Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards
for State and Local Planning, a set of 15 distinct,

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

yet interrelated, capability standards designed
to advance the emergency preparedness and
response capacity of state and local public
health systems. These standards pioneered a
national capability-based framework that helped
jurisdictional public health agencies structure
emergency preparedness planning and further
formalize their public health agency Emergency
Support Function (ESF) #8 role(s) in partnership
with emergency management agencies.
Each capability standard identifies priority resource
elements that are relevant to both routine public
health activities and essential public health
services. This helps support an “everyday use”
model in which applying the capability standards
to improve day-to-day effectiveness builds a
stronger foundation from which a jurisdictional
public health agency can surge when an
emergency incident occurs. Although jurisdictional
public health agencies can demonstrate capability
through exercises, planned events, and real
incident responses, they also are encouraged to
incorporate routine public health agency activities
strategically into demonstration projects to test
and evaluate their emergency preparedness and
response capacity.

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

1

Introduction

Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement Program
In 1999, CDC competitively awarded approximately $40 million to 50 states and four major metropolitan
health departments to support bioterrorism preparedness and response. The program, now administered
by CDC’s Center for Preparedness and Response, Division of State and Local Readiness (DSLR), evolved into
the current Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement.
Today, the PHEP program funds 62 cooperative agreement recipients: 50 states, four localities, and eight
territories and freely associated states. Depending upon the organizational structure of the funded
jurisdictional public health agency, directly funded PHEP recipients may share PHEP funding with local
public health agencies, tribes, and native-serving organizations. This approach provides financial resources
to help build public health emergency response capability both nationally and at state, local, tribal, and
territorial government levels.
Since the initial publication of the preparedness capability standards in 2011, CDC has required that the
62 PHEP recipients develop and implement capability-based work plans and use their PHEP funding to
build and sustain their public health preparedness and response capacity. However, use of the capability
standards now extends well beyond informing jurisdictional public health agency cooperative agreement
work plans. Today, the capability standards are a vital framework for jurisdictional public health agencies
to organize and evaluate emergency responses and exercises, ensure the public health consequences of
jurisdictional emergencies are a response priority, and promote collaboration by establishing a common
language among preparedness professionals. Perhaps most importantly, the capability standards allow
state, local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies to advance response strategies aligned with
community needs, preferences, and resources without dictating or overprescribing “how” to specifically
manage every jurisdictional response.

Operational Support for the National Preparedness System and the National
Preparedness Goal
CDC’s capability standards and PHEP cooperative agreement program provide operational support for the
Federal Emergency Management’s (FEMA) National Preparedness System to strengthen the security and
resilience of the United States through systematic preparation for threats that pose the greatest risk to the
nation’s security. The National Preparedness System has six parts that include identifying and assessing risk,
estimating capability requirements, building and sustaining capabilities, planning to deliver capabilities,
validating capabilities, and reviewing and updating.
The National Preparedness System outlines an organized process for everyone in the whole community to
advance their preparedness activities and achieve the National Preparedness Goal

“A secure and resilient nation with the capabilities
required across the whole community to prevent, protect
against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats
and hazards that pose the greatest risk.” (FEMA, 2015)

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Introduction

The National Preparedness Goal describes a vision for preparedness nationwide and identifies 32 core
capabilities necessary to achieve that vision across five mission areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation,
Response, and Recovery. Although only one of the 32 core capabilities within the National Preparedness
Goal specifically focuses on public health and medical support (Public Health, Healthcare, and Emergency
Medical Services), many of the core capabilities relate to and contain public health and medical
considerations that are necessary to successfully achieve a secure and resilient nation.
CDC’s 2018 Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for
State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health include operational considerations that support the public
health and medical components of the 32 core capabilities specified in the National Preparedness Goal.
Jurisdictions should use these operational considerations to develop their public health agency response
strategies in greater alignment with the jurisdictional public health agency ESF #8 role.

Capability Update Initiative
Since the publication of the capability standards in 2011, public health emergency preparedness and
response capacity has continued to be tested at national, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels. Ongoing
risks related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive incidents as well as cyberattacks
further underscore the importance of updating and modernizing jurisdictional all-hazards public health
preparedness and response strategies to address emerging technologies and new 21st century threats
through a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and taking
corrective action (in accordance with FEMA’s National Preparedness System).
The PHEP program underwent an internal review in 2015 to identify opportunities to strengthen program
tools, resources, and guidance. The review identified the need for CDC to implement several public health
emergency preparedness improvement initiatives, including the Capabilities Update Initiative, the formal
process CDC used for revising the Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State
and Local Planning.
The purpose of the Capability Update Initiative was to update, clarify, and streamline capability content
and enact changes that would best support state, local, tribal, and territorial public health emergency
preparedness work without drastically altering the established 15-capability structure. Thus, the update
process applied a similar approach to that used for the initial development of the 2011 capability
standards. The process included individual work groups for each of the 15 capabilities along with four
additional cross-cutting work groups to address at-risk individuals with access and functional needs, tribal
populations, environmental health, and pandemic influenza.
Lessons learned from public health emergency responses, updates to public health preparedness science,
revised guidance and resources, findings from internal reviews and assessments, subject matter expert
feedback from the practice community, and input from allied agencies all contributed to capability
updates. In addition, representatives from professional associations, including the Association of Public
Health Laboratories (APHL), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Council of
State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), the National Association of County and City Health Officials
(NACCHO), and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) were instrumental in helping to
shape the updated capability content.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

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Introduction

Summary of Capability Updates
The 2018 Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State,
Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health recognizes the maturity and experience jurisdictional public
health emergency preparedness and response programs have gained since 2011. As with the 2011 version,
technical content is informed by applicable guidance, science, practice, and input from subject matter
experts. Examples of revisions include the addition of public health mission-ready packaging and the
importance of identifying jurisdictional public health agency lead or support roles based on incident
characteristics. Other revisions include updates to public health informatics, vaccine administration,
coordination of infectious disease response, chemical laboratory requirements, environmental health,
disaster epidemiology, and additional considerations for protecting the safety of emergency responders
and volunteers. Unlike the 2011 version, this 2018 update does not include programmatic performance
measures. However, jurisdictional public health agencies are encouraged to use the updated content to
foster their own evaluation strategies.
The original capability structure remains in place, and capability titles are consistent with 2011 except for
Capability 8. Previously recognized as Medical Countermeasure Dispensing, the new title, Capability 8:
Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration, better recognizes that pharmaceutical
countermeasures, such as vaccines, antidotes, and antitoxins, can also be “administered” rather than
“dispensed” like pills.
Overarching changes include
• Revising, resequencing, and merging some capability functions
• Defining capability tasks
• Changing “planning” resource elements to “preparedness” resource elements
• Revising all preparedness, skills and training, and equipment and technology resource elements
• Moving all suggested resources (hyperlinks to resource documents) to the CDC website, the CDC
Online Technical Resource and Assistance Center (On-TRAC), and other publicly available websites

Capability Structure
Domains and Tiers
The capability standards are organized into six domains and two tiers. Tier 1 capability standards form
the foundation for public health emergency preparedness and response. Tier 2 capability standards are
more cross-cutting, and their development relies upon having Tier 1 capability standards established
in collaboration with external partners and stakeholders. Although jurisdictional public health agencies
should consider prioritizing development of Tier 1 capabilities, jurisdictional risk assessment findings and
other community factors also may influence jurisdictional prioritization of some Tier 2 capabilities. For
example, based on risk assessment findings and depending on the public health agency’s ESF #8 role,
a jurisdiction also may need to prioritize development of volunteer management strategies to ensure
staffing support for medical countermeasure dispensing and administration activities.

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Introduction

Domain

Capability and Tier
Community Preparedness (Tier 1)

Community Resilience
Community Recovery (Tier 2)
Incident Management

Emergency Operations Coordination (Tier 1)

Emergency Public Information and Warning (Tier 1)
Information Management
Information Sharing (Tier 1)

Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration (Tier 1)

Medical Materiel Management and Distribution (Tier 1)
Countermeasures and Mitigation
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (Tier 2)

Responder Safety and Health (Tier 1)

Fatality Management (Tier 2)

Mass Care (Tier 2)
Surge Management
Medical Surge (Tier 2)

Volunteer Management (Tier 2)

Public Health Laboratory Testing (Tier 1)
Biosurveillance
Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation (Tier 1)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

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Introduction

Composition
Each capability standard comprises capability functions, and each capability function contains specific
capability tasks that are supported by multiple capability resource elements.
• Capability Title and Definition—Description of the capability as it applies to state, local, tribal, and
territorial public health agencies. Each definition includes a list of potential partners and stakeholders
with which jurisdictions may consider working to achieve the capability
• Capability Functions—Critical segments of the capability that must occur to achieve the capability
definition
• Capability Tasks—Action steps aligned to one or more capability functions. Capability tasks must be
accomplished to complete a capability function
• Capability Resource Elements—Resources a jurisdiction should have or have access to in order
to successfully perform capability tasks associated with capability functions. Resource elements are
listed sequentially to align with corresponding tasks in each function. While not necessarily listed first,
“priority” resource elements are potentially the most critical for completing capability tasks based on
jurisdictional risk assessments and other forms of community input. The three categories of capability
resource elements are
·· Preparedness (P)—Components to consider within existing operational plans, standard operating
procedures, guidelines, documents, or other types of written agreements, such as contracts or
memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
·· Skills and Training (S/T)—General baseline descriptions, competencies, and skills that personnel
and teams should possess in order to achieve a capability
·· Equipment and Technology (E/T)—Infrastructure a jurisdiction should have or have access to with
sufficient quantities or levels of effectiveness to achieve the intent of any related capability task

Capability Structure: Composition
Title and Definition

Functions

Tasks

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

Resource Elements

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Using the Capability Standards for
Strategic Planning
State, local, tribal, and territorial
public health agencies exist
within a landscape of diverse
governance, organizational structures,
legal authorities, partnerships,
stakeholders, risks, demographics,
and resources that influence
jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction public
health emergency preparedness
priorities. The 2018 Public Health
Emergency Preparedness and
Response Capabilities: National
Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and
Territorial Public Health describes
the components necessary to
advance jurisdictional public health
preparedness and response capacity.
The capability standards serve as a state, local, tribal, and territorial resource to assess, build, and
sustain jurisdictional public health agency preparedness and response capacity by further defining the
jurisdictional public health agency ESF #8 role while guiding program improvement initiatives to address
preparedness and response planning gaps. Additionally, state, local, tribal, and territorial public health
agencies must remain aware of new and emerging public health threats. From Capability 1: Community
Preparedness to Capability 15: Volunteer Management, jurisdictional public health agencies must be
adaptable when responding to public health threats and emergencies within the context of their
communities and in alignment with incident characteristics.

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities
Planning Model
The following Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning Model updates the planning
roadmap described in the 2011 Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State and
Local Planning. It outlines a process jurisdictional public health agencies can follow to identify public
health emergency preparedness and response program development priorities. Consistent with the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Preparedness Cycle, the following diagram illustrates a threephase approach to identify priorities and implement jurisdictional emergency preparedness planning and
response initiatives.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

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Using the Capability Standards for Strategic Planning

Public Health Emergency Preparedness
and Response Capabilities Planning Model
1. Assess Current State

2. Determine Strategies
and Activities

3. Develop Plans

Step 1a

Step 2a

Step 3a

Assess Organizational
Roles and Responsibilities

Identify and Review
Jurisdictional Inputs

Plan Organizational
Initiatives

Step 2b

Step 3b

Assess
Resource Elements

Prioritize Domains
and Capabilities

Plan Capacity Building
and Sustain Activities

Step 1c

Step 2c

Step 3c

Assess
Performance

Develop Short-term and
Long-term Goals

Plan Capacity Evaluations
and Demonstrations

1.
Assess
Step
1bCurrent State

Phase 1: Assess Current State
Step 1a: Assess Organizational Roles and Responsibilities
The first step in the assessment phase is to determine which organizational entities within the jurisdiction
are responsible for each domain, capability standard, and applicable capability resource elements.
Organizational entities may include allied state agencies, such as emergency management, partner
organizations, other jurisdictional public health agencies, health care coalitions, community-based
partners, and other jurisdictional stakeholders.

Step 1b: Assess Resource Elements
Each capability function includes a list of capability resource elements from three categories: preparedness,
skills and training, and equipment and technology. To assess current capability, jurisdictions should
review all resource elements (with emphasis on priority resource elements) and determine the extent
of their availability within the jurisdiction. Public health agencies are not expected to be independently
responsible for all capability resource elements, as the ability to achieve the capability standards relies
heavily on partnerships.
Successfully attaining capability resource elements is defined as the ability to demonstrate that a
jurisdictional public health agency either has (on hand or within existing plans and documents) or has
access to (partner agency or organization has the jurisdictional authority or responsibility for the resource
and evidence exists that agreements regarding roles and responsibilities are in place) the resource element.
Strategies that address challenges and barriers for fully attaining capability resource elements should help
inform jurisdictional planning, training, and exercise initiatives.

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Using the Capability Standards for Strategic Planning

Step 1c: Assess Performance
The ability to achieve capability functions should be reviewed through jurisdictional demonstrations
of performance and other types of evaluation. Examples of performance demonstrations may include
using CDC-defined performance measures, measuring jurisdictional effectiveness when delivering
“everyday” core public health agency mandates, as relevant, implementing jurisdictional training and
exercise programs, and implementing formal after-action processes, including developing and completing
corrective action plans.

Phase 2: Determine Strategies and Activities
Step 2a: Identify and Review Jurisdictional Inputs
In addition to assessing and reviewing capability resource elements, jurisdictions should review
supplementary information sources to help identify jurisdictional needs and gaps. Supplementary
information sources may include
• Existing data from jurisdictional hazard vulnerability analyses (jurisdictional risk assessment findings)
• Jurisdictional intelligence data, such as fusion center data or information obtained from intelligence
reports or briefings
• Jurisdictional emergency management response plans, such as scenario-based plans
• Funding considerations, such as guidance or funding requirements from related federal preparedness
programs
• Current public health strategic plans or strategic priorities
• Previous state and local accreditation or recognition efforts, such as Project Public Health Ready and
Public Health Accreditation Board standards
• Jurisdictional results or action plans resulting from CDC operational readiness reviews
• After-action reports and corrective action plans

Step 2b: Prioritize Domains and Capabilities
The definitions described within the capability standards are broad. Jurisdictional public health agencies
are not expected to simultaneously and completely address all identified issues, gaps, and needs across all
capabilities in the short term. Instead, jurisdictions should periodically reprioritize the capability standards
they pursue based on regularly updated jurisdictional inputs, including risk assessment findings.
Equally important, resource elements described within each capability function are not representative
of all potential resource types or the quantities that may be required. Therefore, identifying the need for
additional prioritization criteria when assessing individual capability resource elements is critical for public
health agencies because resources that are not specifically stated in the capability standards may be
necessary to achieve capability tasks.

Step 2c: Develop Short-term and Long-term Goals
For the purposes of this planning model, short-term goals are defined as one-year goals, and long-term
goals are defined as two- to five-year goals. Jurisdictional public health agencies should review the various
inputs described in step 2a, analyze their priorities based on the prioritization criteria described in step 2b,
and determine a set of short-term and long-term capability development goals.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

9

Using the Capability Standards for Strategic Planning

Goals for capability development should align with capability definitions, capability functions, capability
tasks, and capability resource elements. For example, short-term goals may include building a particular
set of tasks within a capability function by ensuring the presence of all priority resource elements, while
a long-term goal would be to demonstrate performance and ultimately sustain all capability functions.

Phase 3: Develop Plans
Step 3a: Plan Organizational Initiatives
Jurisdictional public health agencies should establish concrete organizational initiatives and plan activities
to achieve short- and long-term goals. For the purposes of this planning model, an assumption is made
that activities specifically relate to individual capability domains, capability definitions, capability functions,
capability tasks, and capability resource elements. However, in practice, jurisdictional public health
agencies may group related activities to address multiple capability standards within any single project or
program development initiative.

Step 3b: Plan Capacity Building and Sustain Activities
Generally, jurisdictional public health agencies build, sustain, or potentially scale back organizational
initiatives based on the most recent assessment of needs, gaps, priorities, and goals. For build-and-sustain
scenarios, jurisdictional public health agencies should pursue formal and informal partnerships where
necessary based on the projected type(s) of support required. Guidance provided to local jurisdictional
public health agencies should ideally describe development priorities for capability standards and
capability functions. For scale-back scenarios, jurisdictional public health agencies should clearly identify
specific conditions, such as strategic, budgetary, and risk assessments that influence the need to scale
back efforts.
Jurisdictional public health agencies also should identify and prioritize technical assistance needed, from
CDC or other sources, when developing the capability standards. Technical assistance needs may relate
to the development of specific capability functions and capability resource elements, such as developing
or modifying plans or processes, training personnel, or building or investing in new equipment and
technology.

Step 3c: Plan Capacity Evaluations and Demonstrations
Demonstrating and evaluating strategies and activities are generally a later step in the capability
development process. Jurisdictional public health agencies can demonstrate the capability standards by
participating in various levels of exercises, planned events, and real incidents. CDC strongly encourages
jurisdictional public health agencies to leverage routine public health activities, as applicable, to exercise
and evaluate the capability standards. Exercises, events, or incidents should be documented and afteraction reports and corrective action plans should be developed and implemented.

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions,
and Summary of Changes
Capability 1: Community Preparedness
Definition: Community preparedness is the ability of communities to prepare for, withstand, and recover
from public health incidents in both the short and long term. Through engagement and coordination
with a cross-section of state, local, tribal, and territorial partners and stakeholders, the public health role in
community preparedness is to
• Support the development of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health systems that support community preparedness
• Participate in awareness training on how to prevent, respond to, and recover from incidents that
adversely affect public health
• Identify at-risk individuals with access and functional needs that may be disproportionately impacted
by an incident or event
• Promote awareness of and access to public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health resources that help protect the community’s health and address the
access and functional needs of at-risk individuals
• Engage in preparedness activities that address the access and functional needs of the whole
community as well as cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors
• Convene or participate with community partners to identify and implement additional ways to
strengthen community resilience
• Plan to address the health needs of populations that have been displaced because of incidents that
have occurred in their own or distant communities, such as after a radiological or nuclear incident or
natural disaster
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Determine risks to the health of the jurisdiction
• Function 2: Strengthen community partnerships to support public health preparedness
• Function 3: Coordinate with partners and share information through community social networks
• Function 4: Coordinate training and provide guidance to support community involvement with
preparedness efforts
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Defines at-risk individuals as people with access and functional needs that may be disproportionately
impacted by an incident or event, and provides parameters to identify those populations
• Highlights Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements in jurisdictional public health
preparedness and response plans
• Accentuates the importance of community partnerships, including tribes and native-serving organizations
in public health preparedness and response activities
• Promotes integration of community partners to support restoration of community networks and social
connectedness to improve community resilience
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

11

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Capability 2: Community Recovery
Definition: Community recovery is the ability of communities to identify critical assets, facilities, and other
services within public health, emergency management, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health sectors that can guide and prioritize recovery operations. Communities
should consider collaborating with jurisdictional partners and stakeholders to plan, advocate, facilitate,
monitor, and implement the restoration of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health sectors to at least a day-to-day level of functioning comparable to
pre-incident levels and to improved levels, where possible.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Identify and monitor community recovery needs
• Function 2: Support recovery operations for public health and related systems for the community
• Function 3: Implement corrective actions to mitigate damage from future incidents
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Highlights the need to define the jurisdictional public health agency recovery lead and support role
• Supports the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF)
• Promotes integration of community partners to support community recovery and restoration
• Emphasizes engagement of community partners to access hard-to-reach populations to ensure
inclusive communications that meet the needs of the whole community

Capability 3: Emergency Operations Coordination
Definition: Emergency operations coordination is the ability to coordinate with emergency management
and to direct and support an incident or event with public health or health care implications by
establishing a standardized, scalable system of oversight, organization, and supervision that is consistent
with jurisdictional standards and practices and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Conduct preliminary assessment to determine the need for activation of public health
emergency operations
• Function 2: Activate public health emergency operations
• Function 3: Develop and maintain an incident response strategy
• Function 4: Manage and sustain the public health response
• Function 5: Demobilize and evaluate public health emergency operations
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Distinguishes the need to identify and clarify the jurisdictional ESF #8 response role based on incident
type and characteristics
• Incorporates the National Health Security Strategy and Crisis Standards of Care for public health
activation
• Emphasizes the importance of supporting development of mission-ready packages (MRPs) for mutual
aid and understanding the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Capability 4: Emergency Public Information and Warning
Definition: Emergency public information and warning is the ability to develop, coordinate, and
disseminate information, alerts, warnings, and notifications to the public and incident management
personnel.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Activate the emergency public information system
• Function 2: Determine the need for a Joint Information System
• Function 3: Establish and participate in information system operations
• Function 4: Establish avenues for public interaction and information exchange
• Function 5: Issue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Promotes the need to leverage social media platforms for issuing emergency public information
and warnings
• Clarifies conditions for establishing a virtual Joint Information Center and Joint Information System
• Includes content to identify and reach populations at risk to be disproportionately impacted by
incidents and those with limited access to public information messages

Capability 5: Fatality Management
Definition: Fatality management is the ability to coordinate with partner organizations and agencies to
provide fatality management services. The public health agency role in fatality management activities may
include supporting
• Recovery and preservation of remains
• Identification of the deceased
• Determination of cause and manner of death
• Release of remains to an authorized individual
• Provision of mental/behavioral health assistance for the grieving
The role also may include supporting activities for the identification, collection, documentation, retrieval,
and transportation of human remains, personal effects, and evidence to the examination location or
incident morgue.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Determine the public health agency role in fatality management
• Function 2: Identify and facilitate access to public health resources to support fatality management
operations
• Function 3: Assist in the collection and dissemination of antemortem data
• Function 4: Support the provision of survivor mental/behavioral health services
• Function 5: Support fatality processing and storage operations

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

13

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Clarifies importance of identifying the public health agency role in fatality management and describes
potential fatality management lead, advisory, and support roles
• Aligns the fatality management definition to the existing federal definition as recommended by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team
(DMORT)
• Updates resources to improve coordination, accuracy, and timeliness of electronic mortality reporting

Capability 6: Information Sharing
Definition: Information sharing is the ability to conduct multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary exchange
of health-related information and situational awareness data among federal, state, local, tribal, and
territorial levels of government and the private sector. This capability includes the routine sharing of
information as well as issuing of public health alerts to all levels of government and the private sector in
preparation for and in response to events or incidents of public health significance.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Identify stakeholders that should be incorporated into information flow and define
information sharing needs
• Function 2: Identify and develop guidance, standards, and systems for information exchange
• Function 3: Exchange information to determine a common operating picture
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Increases alignment to public health surveillance and data strategies
• Emphasizes the need to implement data security and cybersecurity
• Emphasizes the need to decrease reporting time and increase collaboration by expanding use of
electronic information systems, such as electronic death registration (EDR), electronic laboratory
reporting (ELR), and syndromic surveillance systems

Capability 7: Mass Care
Definition: Mass care is the ability of public health agencies to coordinate with and support partner
agencies to address, within a congregate location (excluding shelter-in-place locations), the public health,
health care, mental/behavioral health, and human services needs of those impacted by an incident. This
capability includes coordinating ongoing surveillance and public health assessments to ensure that health
needs continue to be met as the incident evolves.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Determine public health role in mass care operations
• Function 2: Determine mass care health needs of the impacted population
• Function 3: Coordinate public health, health care, and mental/behavioral health services
• Function 4: Monitor mass care population health

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Incorporates content for accommodating individuals with access and functional needs within general
population shelters
• Includes considerations for registration of individuals requiring decontamination or medical tracking in
the event of an environmental health incident
• Coordinated content with the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response’s (ASPR) Health
Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities

Capability 8: Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration
Definition: Medical countermeasure dispensing and administration is the ability to provide medical
countermeasures to targeted population(s) to prevent, mitigate, or treat the adverse health effects of a
public health incident, according to public health guidelines. This capability focuses on dispensing and
administering medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, antiviral drugs, antibiotics, and antitoxins.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Determine medical countermeasure dispensing/administration strategies
• Function 2: Receive medical countermeasures to be dispensed/administered
• Function 3: Activate medical countermeasure dispensing/administration operations
• Function 4: Dispense/administer medical countermeasures to targeted population(s)
• Function 5: Report adverse events
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Revises the Capability 8 title, definition, and content to account for both the dispensing and the
administration of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, antidotes, and antitoxins
• Adds content and resources to account for potential radiological or nuclear exposure
• Broadens the network of dispensing and administration sites to include pharmacies and other locations

Capability 9: Medical Materiel Management and Distribution
Definition: Medical materiel management and distribution is the ability to acquire, manage, transport,
and track medical materiel during a public health incident or event and the ability to recover and account
for unused medical materiel, such as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, gloves, masks, ventilators, or medical
equipment after an incident.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Direct and activate medical materiel management and distribution
• Function 2: Acquire medical materiel from national stockpiles or other supply sources
• Function 3: Distribute medical materiel
• Function 4: Monitor medical materiel inventories and medical materiel distribution operations
• Function 5: Recover medical materiel and demobilize distribution operations

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

15

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Broadens the cold chain management guidance to include all aspects of storage and handling
• Expands recovery activities to incorporate proper handling and disposal of infectious, hazardous, or
contaminated materiel and waste
• Accounts for security and inventory management tasks that occur throughout the entire distribution
process

Capability 10: Medical Surge
Definition: Medical surge is the ability to provide adequate medical evaluation and care during events
that exceed the limits of the normal medical infrastructure of an affected community. It encompasses
the ability of the health care system to endure a hazard impact, maintain or rapidly recover operations
that were compromised, and support the delivery of medical care and associated public health services,
including disease surveillance, epidemiological inquiry, laboratory diagnostic services, and environmental
health assessments.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Assess the nature and scope of the incident
• Function 2: Support activation of medical surge
• Function 3: Support jurisdictional medical surge operations
• Function 4: Support demobilization of medical surge operations
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Emphasizes the need to define public health agency lead and support roles within medical surge
operations
• Eliminates use of the term “HAvBED” because the term is no longer promoted by the Hospital
Preparedness Program (HPP) and focuses instead on “situational awareness” and “health care systems
tracking” as an overarching theme
• Emphasizes the need to identify and clarify the jurisdictional ESF #8 response role in medical surge
operations based on jurisdictional role and incident characteristics

Capability 11: Nonpharmaceutical Interventions
Definition: Nonpharmaceutical interventions are actions that people and communities can take
to help slow the spread of illness or reduce the adverse impact of public health emergencies. This
capability focuses on communities, community partners, and stakeholders recommending and
implementing nonpharmaceutical interventions in response to the needs of an incident, event, or threat.
Nonpharmaceutical interventions may include
• Isolation
• Quarantine
• Restrictions on movement and travel advisories or warnings
• Social distancing
• External decontamination
• Hygiene
• Precautionary protective behaviors

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Engage partners and identify factors that impact nonpharmaceutical interventions
• Function 2: Determine nonpharmaceutical interventions
• Function 3: Implement nonpharmaceutical interventions
• Function 4: Monitor nonpharmaceutical interventions
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Focuses on collaboration by expanding suggested partners for implementing nonpharmaceutical
interventions
• Supports establishment of community reception center processes to enhance ability to respond to
radiological and nuclear threats
• Highlights management of mass gatherings (delay and cancel) based on all-hazards scenarios

Capability 12: Public Health Laboratory Testing
Definition: Public health laboratory testing is the ability to implement and perform methods to detect,
characterize, and confirm public health threats. It also includes the ability to report timely data, provide
investigative support, and use partnerships to address actual or potential exposure to threat agents in
multiple matrices, including clinical specimens and food, water, and other environmental samples. This
capability supports passive and active surveillance when preparing for, responding to, and recovering from
biological, chemical, and radiological (if a Radiological Laboratory Response Network is established) public
health threats and emergencies.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Conduct laboratory testing and report results
• Function 2: Enhance laboratory communications and coordination
• Function 3: Support training and outreach
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Updates Laboratory Response Network (LRN) requirements
• Incorporates LRN-chemical requirements
• Prioritizes cooperation, coordination, and information sharing with LRN laboratories, other public
laboratories, and jurisdictional sentinel laboratories

Capability 13: Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation
Definition: Public health surveillance and epidemiological investigation is the ability to create, maintain,
support, and strengthen routine surveillance and detection systems and epidemiological investigation
processes. It also includes the ability to expand these systems and processes in response to incidents of
public health significance.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Conduct or support public health surveillance
• Function 2: Conduct public health and epidemiological investigations

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

17

At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes

• Function 3: Recommend, monitor, and analyze mitigation actions
• Function 4: Improve public health surveillance and epidemiological investigation systems
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Increases alignment to public health surveillance and data strategies
• Strengthens surveillance systems for persons in isolation or quarantine and persons placed under
monitoring and movement protocols
• Emphasizes syndromic surveillance and data collection to improve situational awareness and
responsiveness to hazardous events and disease outbreaks, for example, participation in CDC’s National
Syndromic Surveillance Program BioSense Platform

Capability 14: Responder Safety and Health
Definition: Responder safety and health is the ability to protect public health and other emergency
responders during pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Identify responder safety and health risks
• Function 2: Identify and support risk-specific responder safety and health training
• Function 3: Monitor responder safety and health during and after incident response
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Incorporates the need to securely manage responder data
• Improves responder on-site management, tracking, in-processing, and out-processing
• Reprioritizes hierarchy of control and promotes the alignment of responder safety and health control
measures, for example, personal protective equipment (PPE), with jurisdictional risk assessment findings

Capability 15: Volunteer Management
Definition: Volunteer management is the ability to coordinate with emergency management and partner
agencies to identify, recruit, register, verify, train, and engage volunteers to support the jurisdictional public
health agency’s preparedness, response, and recovery activities during pre-deployment, deployment, and
post-deployment.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Recruit, coordinate, and train volunteers
• Function 2: Notify, organize, assemble, and deploy volunteers
• Function 3: Conduct or support volunteer safety and health monitoring and surveillance
• Function 4: Demobilize volunteers
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Addresses the need to monitor volunteer safety, risks, and actions during and after an incident
• Strengthens and clarifies volunteer eligibility considerations, such as medical, physical, and emotional
health, during the volunteer selection process
• Promotes use of Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance™ (ERHMS™)

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Capability 1: Community Preparedness
Definition: Community preparedness is the ability of communities to prepare for, withstand, and recover
from public health incidents in both the short and long term. Through engagement and coordination
with a cross-section of state, local, tribal, and territorial partners and stakeholders, the public health role in
community preparedness is to
• Support the development of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health systems that support community preparedness
• Participate in awareness training on how to prevent, respond to, and recover from incidents that
adversely affect public health
• Identify at-risk individuals with access and functional needs that may be disproportionately impacted
by an incident or event
• Promote awareness of and access to public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health resources that help protect the community’s health and address the
access and functional needs of at-risk individuals
• Engage in preparedness activities that address the access and functional needs of the whole
community as well as cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors
• Convene or participate with community partners to identify and implement additional ways to
strengthen community resilience
• Plan to address the health needs of populations that have been displaced because of incidents that
have occurred in their own or distant communities, such as after a radiological or nuclear incident or
natural disaster
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Determine risks to the health of the jurisdiction
• Function 2: Strengthen community partnerships to support public health preparedness
• Function 3: Coordinate with partners and share information through community social networks
• Function 4: Coordinate training and provide guidance to support community involvement with
preparedness efforts
Summary of Changes: The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Defines at-risk individuals as people with access and functional needs that may be disproportionately
impacted by an incident or event, and provides parameters to identify those populations
• Highlights Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements in jurisdictional public health
preparedness and response plans
• Accentuates the importance of community partnerships, including tribes and native-serving
organizations in public health preparedness and response activities
• Promotes integration of community partners to support restoration of community networks and social
connectedness to improve community resilience

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

19

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

For the purposes of Capability 1, partners and stakeholders may include the following: all
parts of the whole community such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, community and faith-based
organizations, and all levels of government.
Specific partners and stakeholders may include
• animal services and agencies
• childcare organizations
• chronic disease programs
• communicable disease programs
• community coalitions
• emergency management agencies
• emergency medical services (EMS)
• environmental health agencies
• fire and rescue departments
• groups representing and serving populations
with access and functional needs
• health care coalitions
• health care organizations (private and
community-based)
• health care systems and providers

• health care associated infection control
programs
• housing and sheltering authorities
• human services providers
• immunization programs
• jurisdictional strategic advisory councils
• law enforcement
• media organizations
• mental/behavioral health providers
• public health preparedness programs
• schools and education agencies
• social services
• state office of aging or its equivalent
• surveillance programs
• volunteer organizations

Function 1: D
 etermine risks to the health of the jurisdiction
Function Definition:Identify potential jurisdictional public health, health care, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks, and assess the human impact
because of interruption of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health services and supporting infrastructure.

Tasks
Task 1: Conduct a public health jurisdictional risk assessment.Identify and prioritize jurisdictional
risks, risk-reduction strategies, and risk-mitigation efforts in coordination with community
partners and stakeholders.
Task 2: Support jurisdictional partners and stakeholders to identify services to reduce and
mitigate identified jurisdictional public health risks.Support community partners and
stakeholders to identify public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health services capable of supporting public health risk-reduction strategies
and mitigation efforts.

Preparedness Resource Elements
P1: (Priority)Procedures in place to identify at-risk populations that may be disproportionately impacted
by incidents or events. At-risk populations include individuals with access and functional needs, such as
needs related to communication, maintaining health, independence, support, safety, self-determination,
and transportation (CMIST), as defined in the CMIST framework. At-risk populations may include
individuals who

20

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

• Are at higher risk of severe complications from infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza,
for example, older adults, pregnant women, children, and people with pre-existing chronic
medical conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease
• Have limitations that interfere with the receipt of and response to information, such as individuals
who may not be able to hear, see, understand, or act on safety information
• Rely on personal care assistance to manage or maintain health
• Function independently if they have durable medical equipment or other assistive devices, service
animals, or personal assistance service providers
• Find it difficult to cope in a new environment, such as those with autism, dementia, or intense
anxiety
• Have transportation needs, including those who use public transit or accessible vehicles, such as
lift-equipped or vehicles suitable for transporting individuals who use oxygen tanks
P2: (Priority)Jurisdictional risk assessments, which may include
• Identification of potential hazards, such as geographic and physical hazards, vulnerabilities, risks
related to population characteristics, such as population density and demographics, and other risks
in the community with the potential to adversely impact public health and related health care,
human services, mental/behavioral health, and environmental health systems
• A definition of risk, including a risk formula
• The relation between identified risks to human impact and the interruption of public health, health
care, human, mental/behavioral health, and environmental health services, noting that certain
responses may affect basic functions of society, including physical damage to infrastructure or a
reduction in the critical workforce
• Estimate of plausibility or probability of risks and hazards for the jurisdiction, such as the likelihood
of natural disasters based on historical precedence
• Size and characteristics of the jurisdiction’s population
··Identification or location of populations with access and functional needs
··Identification of populations with limited language proficiency (language isolation) and limited
access to communication channels to receive timely and effective public health information
··Information on vulnerabilities based on socioeconomic status, education, culture, and other factors
··Locations or mapping of populations using information sources, including geographic information
systems (GIS), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Social Vulnerability
Index, HHS emPOWER data, and other sources
• Data on the size and type of animal populations within the jurisdiction
Jurisdictional risk assessments may be conducted using information, which may include
• Consultation with subject matter experts from jurisdictional partners and stakeholders
• Data that help prioritize jurisdictional hazards and public health vulnerabilities, including historical
data from emergency management risk assessment(s), public health programs, relevant scenarios
or models, community engagements, GIS, and other supplementary sources
• Identification of factors that influence community resilience
• Estimated impact on public health, environmental health, and health care system functioning,
for example, the potential loss or disruption of essential services, such as water, sanitation,
vector control, electricity, or other utilities, or the interruption of public health, human services,
environmental health, or health care infrastructure and services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

21

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

P3:Written agreements, such as contracts or memoranda of understanding (MOUs), with applicable
stakeholders within the jurisdiction or in neighboring jurisdictions to provide access to health care,
human services, mental/behavioral health, and environmental health services, as necessary.

Skills and Training Resource Elements
S/T1:Personnel trained to locate or map at-risk populations using GIS, social vulnerability indexes, and
other community assets, such as partnerships with human services and other safety net services to
integrate aggregate data or client and consumer lists.
S/T2:Personnel familiar with methods and principles for developing and administering jurisdictional
risk assessments.
S/T3: Personnel trained in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency
Management Institute course IS-305: Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER)
Awareness and other EHTER training opportunities.

Equipment and Technology Resource Elements
E/T1:Public health agency may coordinate with other governmental agencies for example, emergency
management agencies or academic institutions, such as schools of public health or geography
departments, as needed, for access to GIS systems.

Function 2: S
 trengthen community partnerships to support public health
preparedness
Function Definition:Identify and engage public and private community partners to
• Assist with informing jurisdictional risk assessments, mitigating identified health hazards,
and controlling risks
• Integrate all-hazards emergency plans with identified community roles and responsibilities
related to the provision of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health services
• Define Emergency Support Function (ESF) #8 public health roles at the state, local, tribal, or
territorial level
• Implement additional activities to strengthen community resilience

Tasks
Task 1: Engage community partners and other stakeholders to support risk-mitigation.Define
and implement strategies for ongoing collaboration with community partners and stakeholders
capable of providing services to mitigate pre-identified general and incident-specific public
health hazards and controlling risks for targeted populations.
Task 2: Coordinate the delivery of essential public health services.Partner with organizations
responsible for essential health care and human services to ensure those services are provided as
early as possible during the response, recovery, and return of the public health system after the
incident or event.

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

Task 3: Incorporate partner feedback to continuously improve emergency operations plans.
Establish and implement continuous quality improvement methods, including formal afteraction processes, to collect and incorporate feedback from community and faith-based partners
into emergency operations plans.
Task 4: Engage trusted community spokespersons to deliver public health messages.Collaborate
with community partners and stakeholders to develop, test, and disseminate timely public
health messaging to targeted populations through trusted representatives or spokespersons.

Preparedness Resource Elements
P1: (Priority)Procedures in place to coordinate relationships with community partners and stakeholders.
P2: (Priority)Procedures in place to register health care personnel, such as physicians, nurses, and allied
health professionals from community, faith-based, and professional organizations in the Medical Reserve
Corps (MRC) or state Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals
(ESAR-VHP) programs to support health services.
(See Capability 15: Volunteer Management)

P3:Procedures in place to integrate community and faith-based partner roles and responsibilities for
each stage of a public health incident or event.
P4:Procedures and venues in place to discuss and provide guidance on public health hazard policies
and plans of action with community partners and other stakeholders. Venues may include town hall
meetings, community gatherings, conferences, and other social engagements.
P5: (Priority)Stand-alone plans, annexes, or other documentation, developed with input from
jurisdictional partners, to indicate how the public health agency will assist with activities, which
may include
• Continuity of operations for public health, health care, human, mental/behavioral health, and
environmental health services within the community, including vaccination and dispensing services
using a variety of provider types and settings, such as pharmacies, doctors’ offices, school-located
vaccination clinics, occupational health or worksite clinics, point-of-dispensing sites, and other
traditional and non-traditional locations, during and after an incident. Particular attention should be
placed on accessibility of health and human services for at-risk individuals with access and functional
needs who may be disproportionately impacted by a public health incident or event, including
displaced populations
• Support to address concerns and needs of populations not directly impacted by a particular incident,
but concerned about the possibility of adverse health effects. Support services may include
··Health care
··Relocation services
··Sheltering
··Caregiving
··Family reunification
··Other standard services
• Collaboration with community partners to assess and plan for the access and functional needs of
at-risk individuals who may be disproportionately impacted by an incident

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

23

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

• Childcare coordination with education and childcare sectors as well as systems that routinely serve
children, such as child welfare, foster care, childcare or Head Start, runaway and youth homelessness,
and juvenile justice agencies
• Support for animal services and pet care, as applicable
• Psychological first aid and other relevant mental/behavioral health services
• Communication services, which may include interpreter services for populations with limited English
proficiency, methods to reach populations with limited access to public health messaging, or
methods to alert and communicate with people with hearing, vision, speech, cognitive, and other
disabilities
P6:Procedures in place to identify jurisdictional public health agency ESF #8 lead or support roles and
functions based on incident characteristics, legal authorities, and existing mandates.
(See Capability 3: Emergency Operations Coordination)

Skills and Training Resource Elements
S/T1:Personnel able to demonstrate the skills and competencies in Domain 3: Plan for and Improve
Practice, within the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competency Model.

Function 3: C
 oordinate with partners and share information through
community social networks
Function Definition:Engage with community organizations to foster social connections that ensure the
availability and community awareness of public health, health care, human, mental/behavioral health,
and environmental health services in response to an incident.

Tasks
Task 1: Engage with community partners and stakeholders to coordinate preparedness efforts.
Coordinate with community partners to ensure they understand how to access and connect
their stakeholders and populations they serve to public health resources during an incident.
Task 2: Provide opportunities for community health services to participate in jurisdictional
public health emergency preparedness activities.Engage public health, health care,
human services, mental/behavioral health, and environmental health organizations that provide
essential health services to the community in the development, implementation, and review of
jurisdictional public health emergency preparedness efforts.
Task 3: Leverage community networks to disseminate information during an incident.Use
local businesses, community and faith-based organizations, radio and other broadcast media,
social media, text messaging, and other channels, as applicable, in communication networks to
disseminate timely, relevant, accessible, and culturally appropriate information throughout the
whole community during an incident.

Preparedness Resource Elements
P1:Procedures and problem-solving strategies in place to ensure access to public health, health care,
human, mental/behavioral health, and environmental health services and to identify and engage
community partners and stakeholders to support the restoration of community networks and social
connectedness (social cohesion).

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Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

P2:Procedures in place to define and continuously update community-specific, information-sharing
needs within jurisdictions.
(See Capability 6: Information Sharing)

P3:Culturally and socially appropriate health services needed to support identified jurisdictional risks
and associated hazards.
(See Capability 4: Emergency Public Information and Warning)

Function 4: C
 oordinate training and provide guidance to support community
involvement with preparedness efforts
Function Definition:Provide public health preparedness and response training and guidance to
community partners and other stakeholders in order to address risks including, but not limited to, those
identified in the jurisdictional risk assessment.

Tasks
Task 1: Leverage existing disaster preparedness and response trainings and educational
programs to build community resilience.Coordinate with community partners and
stakeholders to implement existing training and educational programs that incorporate
community-based approaches to preparedness and recovery.
Task 2: Promote training and guidance for community partners.Promote training initiatives for
community partners and other stakeholders within public health, health care, human services,
mental/behavioral health, and environmental health sectors.
Task 3: Provide guidance to groups representing at-risk populations.Promote training and
education of community partners and stakeholders to support preparedness and recovery
for populations that may be disproportionately impacted by an incident or event based on
the jurisdiction’s identified risks and increase awareness of and access to services that may be
needed during and after the incident.

Preparedness Resource Elements
P1: (Priority)Procedures in place to inform child service providers, such as schools, pediatricians, and
children’s mental health of and encourage their participation in jurisdictional strategies for addressing
children’s needs. Procedures may include
• Approaches to support family reunification
• Care for children whose caregivers are deceased, ill, injured, missing, quarantined, or otherwise
incapacitated for lengthy periods of time
• Approaches to help children with access and functional needs
• Approaches to strengthen parents’ and caregivers’ coping skills
• Support for positive mental/behavioral health outcomes in children affected by the incident
• Approaches to help children and adults understand the incident
P2:Procedures in place to provide guidance and training programs, such as FEMA, CDC, and
jurisdictional training to partners serving populations that rely on support services, such as HIV/AIDS
treatment, substance abuse treatment, and dialysis that may not be accessible during or after an incident.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

25

Capability 1: Community Preparedness

P3:(Priority) Procedures in place to build and sustain volunteer opportunities for community residents
to support jurisdictional emergency responders and community safety efforts year-round, such as
coordination with the MRC.
(See Capability 15: Volunteer Management)

Skills and Training Resource Elements
S/T1:Emergency responders, citizen volunteers, and other community residents trained in standardized
and competency-based disaster education and training programs, such as the National Disaster Life
Support Program and National and State Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) planning
documents.
S/T2MRC volunteers and procedures to ensure coordination with existing community emergency
response teams (CERTs) or Citizen Corps or support for the state ESAR-VHP program.
(See Capability 15: Volunteer Management)

26

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Capability 2: Community Recovery
Definition: Community recovery is the ability of communities to identify critical assets, facilities, and other
services within public health, emergency management, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health sectors that can guide and prioritize recovery operations. Communities
should consider collaborating with jurisdictional partners and stakeholders to plan, advocate, facilitate,
monitor, and implement the restoration of public health, health care, human services, mental/behavioral
health, and environmental health sectors to at least a day-to-day level of functioning comparable to
pre-incident levels and to improved levels, where possible.
Functions: This capability consists of the ability to perform the functions listed below.
• Function 1: Identify and monitor community recovery needs
• Function 2: Support recovery operations for public health and related systems for the community
• Function 3: Implement corrective actions to mitigate damage from future incidents
Summary of Changes:The updates align content with new national standards, updated science, and
current public health priorities and strategies. Listed below are specific changes made to this capability.
• Highlights the need to define the jurisdictional public health agency recovery lead and support role
• Supports the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF)
• Promotes integration of community partners to support community recovery and restoration
• Emphasizes engagement of community partners to access hard-to-reach populations to ensure
inclusive communications that meet the needs of the whole community
For the purposes of Capability 2, partners and stakeholders may include the following: all parts
of the whole community, such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, community and faith-based
organizations, and all levels of government.
Specific partners and stakeholders may include
• animal services and agencies
• childcare organizations
• chronic disease programs
• communicable disease programs
• community coalitions
• emergency management agencies
• emergency medical services (EMS)
• environmental health agencies
• fire and rescue departments
• groups representing and serving populations
with access and functional needs
• health care coalitions
• health care organizations (private and
community-based)
• health care systems and providers
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• health care associated infection control
programs
• housing and sheltering authorities
• human services providers
• immunization programs
• jurisdictional strategic advisory councils
• law enforcement
• media organizations
• mental/behavioral health providers
• public health preparedness programs
• schools and education agencies
• social services
• state office of aging or its equivalent
• surveillance programs
• volunteer organizations
Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities:
National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health

27

Capability 2: Community Recovery

Function 1: I dentify and monitor community recovery needs
Function Definition:Assess the impact of an incident on the public health system in collaboration with
jurisdictional partners and stakeholders to prioritize public health, emergency management, health care,
mental/behavioral health, environmental health, and applicable human services recovery needs.

Tasks
Task 1: Identify jurisdictional community recovery priorities.Collaborate with jurisdictional
partners and stakeholders to identify and document jurisdictional community recovery issues
and priorities based on the impact of an incident on the population and critical assets,
facilities, and other services within the public health, emergency management, health care,
mental/behavioral health, and environmental health sectors.
Task 2: Identify the jurisdictional public health agency role in community recovery.In
collaboration with the jurisdictional emergency management agency and organizations
representing jurisdictional Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and Recovery Support Functions
(RSFs), identify the jurisdictional public health agency lead or support roles for community
recovery.
Task 3: Identify recovery services to be provided by the jurisdictional public health agency,
partners, and stakeholders.Determine public health agency, partners, and stakeholders
services that can be provided for short- and long-term recovery operations, including previously
identified services and new services, as appropriate, to address emerging community recovery
needs.
Task 4: Solicit community input fr...