The Role of Public Health Emergency Management in Biodefense: A COVID-19 Case Study.

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impact on human lives as well as economic and social stability. The United States has a complicated history with biosecurity as policy making, biodefense activities, and government transparency have historically been in contention. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 uncovered various weaknesses in the national public health infrastructure that have persisted into the current pandemic. This study explores the biodefense and public health preparedness landscape for trends in federal support and capacity building. It also investigates the applicability of public health emergency management principles to the biodefense structure. A mixed method was utilized in this study to investigate the qualitative and quantitative factors of the research inquiry. Braun and Clarke's six phase framework for thematic analysis will assist with defining the important information from a review of the literature. The concurrent triangulation design permits that use of qualitative and quantitative data to more accurately define and analyze the relationship among the variables of interest. The results included the identification of 8 common themes of failure during the COVID-19 response: (1) accountable leadership, (2) statutory authorities and policies, (3) inter-agency coordination, (4) coherent data system for situational awareness, (5) strategic national stockpile and supply chain, (6) testing and surveillance, (7) health care system surge capacity and resilience, and (8) federal funds and the role of public health emergency management in the evolving landscape of biothreats, both intentional and natural. To counter the increasing biothreats, the United States must invest in revamping the biodefense infrastructure to mimic and support public health emergency preparedness initiatives which will increase our resilience to various biothreats.