As the nation enters its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report calls for urgent investment to create a public health system able to protect all Americans’ health during emergencies. The report, released today by Trust for America’s Health, measures states’ performance on 10 key emergency preparedness indicators and identifies gaps in states’ readiness to respond to emergencies. The report includes policy recommendations for strengthening the nation’s health security.
The report, Ready or Not 2022: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism, measures states’ degree of preparedness to respond to a wide spectrum of health emergencies and to provide ongoing public health services, including disease surveillance, seasonal flu vaccination, safe water, and expanded healthcare services during emergencies. It tiers states and the District of Columbia into three performance levels: high, middle, and low, placing 17 states and DC in the high-performance tier, 20 states in the middle performance tier, and 13 states in the low performance tier. The 2021 report placed, 20 states and the District of Columbia in the high-performance tier.
Ohio was once again ranked in the High performance level.