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Comprehensive Regional Pandemic Resilience RoadmapPNWER has been awarded an EDA Grant to develop a Comprehensive Regional Pandemic Resilience Roadmap following the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be an opportunity to build upon PNWER's previous work in 2010 on a Comprehensive Community Bio-Event Resilience Action Plan following the H1N1 pandemic.
The primary focus of this project is to produce a Roadmap to improve capacities of communities to safely and successfully address the challenges and economically recover from a pandemic. The project will identify gaps, examine what can be improved, and define an implementation plan for best practices and methods identified nationwide with a cross-sector and multi-discipline approach. Shortening the period of maximum economic constraint will do much to limit the economic damages done to individuals, families, and small businesses. |
The PNWER team worked with BERK Consulting to identify 6 sectors to deeply investigate in the Roadmap to better understand how public policy interacted with business operations across a variety of industries. Some of the identified industries were hit harder than others, while others were somewhat unaffected despite the pandemic’s challenges. The 6 sectors identified are:
PNWER's COVID-19 Recovery Series will also be exploring these sectors in collaboration with this project to help pull in best practices from across the greater PNWER region.
- Small Businesses and Retail Services
- Transportation & Warehousing
- Information / Publishing Industries [software development]
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Food Services / Drinking Establishments
PNWER's COVID-19 Recovery Series will also be exploring these sectors in collaboration with this project to help pull in best practices from across the greater PNWER region.
PNWER's COVID-19 Recovery Call Series
PNWER began the COVID-19 Recovery Series in 2020 as a way for legislators and business leaders from across our Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions to come together and share best practices in the early days of the pandemic. The goal is to identify what other jurisdictions were doing well or were struggling with to ensure decision makers in our region had a working understanding of the puzzle pieces to support a safe and sustainable post-COVID economic recovery.
In 2022, we are making a pivot to focus on how different sectors have been impacted by and responded to pandemic challenges. Industry representatives and businesses from across the region will be responding to a similar set of questions investigating the relationship between public policy and businesses as the pandemic unfolded and progressed. These findings will be incorporated in the Pandemic Resilience Roadmap!
Upcoming dates include:
In 2022, we are making a pivot to focus on how different sectors have been impacted by and responded to pandemic challenges. Industry representatives and businesses from across the region will be responding to a similar set of questions investigating the relationship between public policy and businesses as the pandemic unfolded and progressed. These findings will be incorporated in the Pandemic Resilience Roadmap!
Upcoming dates include:
- April 20 | 11 am PST | Add to Calendar
- Construction Industry Response to the Pandemic
- May 18 | 11 am PST | Add to Calendar
- Manufacturing Industry Response to the Pandemic
- June 15 | 11 am PST | Add to Calendar
- Food Services / Drinking Establishments Industries Response to the Pandemic
The Comprehensive Pandemic Resilience Roadmap will incorporate lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic resilience best practices with a strong focus on economic challenges in the context of health safety, the implications for preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, and identify needs and respective improvement actions. The Roadmap will help with the present pandemic and prepare the Central Puget Sound for future pandemics while at the same time assisting in lessening future blows to the economic welfare of the region, by enhancing capacity of local governments, economic development agencies, and business associations to be better prepared for safe operation, and economic survival.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a host of additional complex issues and shortfalls, including unexpected, deleterious, and far-reaching repercussions for local and regional economies that demonstrate limited understanding of and capabilities to address competing interests and needs in the context of inter-related economic and health resilience demands. These challenges cut across the resilience mission areas of protection, preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery, and include an extensive range of new needs. Looking just at economic recovery, issues include healthcare and business supply chains; human resource considerations, such as protecting staff, sick leave, emergency leave, flexible child-care arrangements, dealing with ill workers, telecommuting, insurance coverage, etc.; better informed and coordinated decision-making across communities to address risks associated with business closure and restarts, quarantines, and social distancing versus health impacts; and how to keep businesses and other entities in operation and attract new investments and economic development opportunities. An overarching challenge is how to address the impact of social media on public behavior, fears, and attitudes that have a direct bearing on economic recovery. Beyond this, communities and regions need to not only recover, but they need to have the resources, tools, and other capabilities to build and sustain pandemic resilience to thrive and grow.
Point of Contact for the Project:
Betz Mayer, PNWER Program Manager
Betz.Mayer@pnwer.org
(206) 443-7723
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a host of additional complex issues and shortfalls, including unexpected, deleterious, and far-reaching repercussions for local and regional economies that demonstrate limited understanding of and capabilities to address competing interests and needs in the context of inter-related economic and health resilience demands. These challenges cut across the resilience mission areas of protection, preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery, and include an extensive range of new needs. Looking just at economic recovery, issues include healthcare and business supply chains; human resource considerations, such as protecting staff, sick leave, emergency leave, flexible child-care arrangements, dealing with ill workers, telecommuting, insurance coverage, etc.; better informed and coordinated decision-making across communities to address risks associated with business closure and restarts, quarantines, and social distancing versus health impacts; and how to keep businesses and other entities in operation and attract new investments and economic development opportunities. An overarching challenge is how to address the impact of social media on public behavior, fears, and attitudes that have a direct bearing on economic recovery. Beyond this, communities and regions need to not only recover, but they need to have the resources, tools, and other capabilities to build and sustain pandemic resilience to thrive and grow.
Point of Contact for the Project:
Betz Mayer, PNWER Program Manager
Betz.Mayer@pnwer.org
(206) 443-7723
