Month: April 2020

Full disclosure, I wasn’t sure I was going to publicly post this when I sat down to write it.  Then I remembered at the end of the day, my job is to ensure everyone goes home safe and lessons are learned from mistakes, even if those mistakes are my own or my departments.  COVID-19 has posed incredible challenges to the agencies tasked with responding to issues.  The biggest challenge I have personally encountered so far, is how to communicate information that is vital to agency response to those responsible for actually responding.

Currently, I am splitting roles between front line supervisor and planning team member for the department’s incident management team (IMT).  The benefit is I get first hand insight to the decisions that are made and assist with making them.  The downside is I get information that is not for general release for a multitude of reasons.  Those who I am tasked with leading in my every day role know where I spend the rest of my time.  They know I have information and they try really hard to get that information, and I can’t blame them.  The communication from my department from the onset has been lacking.  That said, the department is in the unenviable position of responding to a crisis that has not been dealt with on this large of scale in over 100 years.  Even with that factor, the department has committed 2 of the 7 deadly sins outlined in Sujan Patel’s 2017 article for Inc. titled “The 7 Deadly Sins of Manager-Employee Communication (and How to Avoid Them)”, being unapproachable and using passive-aggressive communication.

The previous sentence was painful to write because I know there are many in the department who do not intend it to be that way.  My department also has a chain of command which makes the unapproachable part seem normal, but it does not and SHOULD not be that way, especially in these uncertain times.  Now more than ever the department leadership needs to engage with its employees and reaffirm their commitment to the success of the department.  Insulating themselves and responding to inquiries with phrases such as “check the blog” or “that question has already been answered” is just not sufficient and seems almost cold.  The responders are afraid, their families are afraid, and the public they are tasked with helping are afraid.  A leadership presence is required more than ever, not only to calm those under their command, but to deliver a strong message that can be relayed to the public.

For now, I’ll continue to calm those under my direct command, pass on what information I can when I can, and do my best to ensure other departments can learn from mistakes that are made prior to making the mistakes themselves.

As we settle into our new normal within the world of COVID-19 and evaluate the ongoing national response to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’ve seen varying degrees of effectiveness in managing the viruses spread across all levels of government. Regardless of where one stands on the political spectrum, there has been chaos, confusion, and uncertainty about the future amongst both sides of the political table. We’ve reached a critical crossroad, where political interests and loyalties meet humanitarian decision-making with economic implications…two ingredients in a recipe for disaster.

From the most senior administrators, the delay in prioritizing the virus as an impending catastrophic event led to the chaotic response that ensued across the country, particularly in Washington, New York, and California. Although, what is occurring is unprecedented, there were instruments and safety nets in place to prevent an all-out failure by leadership in foreseeing the disaster associated with viral events such as this. In 2015, on the heels of dealing with an Ebola crisis, then President Obama requested common sense, bi-partisan support from Congress in funding a Pandemic Response Team so that “5 years from now or a decade from now” the U.S. would be poised to respond to another flu-strain. Exactly 5 years after that request, the globe is under siege from a flu-strain that has crippled world markets, invoked fear and panic, and has shown how unprepared we were for what was forewarned. Exacerbating the effects of the virus was the decision to disassemble the Pandemic Response Team in 2018 for fiduciary reasons, as well as the firing of the CDC liaison strategically positioned in China’s CDC equivalent agency. The early warning systems put in place were haphazardly dismantled piece by piece until we could barely see what was in front of us, the fog of war becoming thicker by the minute.

On a state level, the responses by Governor Cuomo and many others have been inspiring, especially when considering the added challenge of citizens feeling their constitutional rights are being infringed upon through the “shelter-in-place” orders. Spring breakers refused to have their getaway from school ruined and continued to crowd the beaches, party, and risk their own safety for a few days of vacation. As a resident of Florida, it has been noticeable how behind the curve our state was in issuing lockdowns and closures. The Spring Breakers and snowbirds that refused to leave the beaches continued to cause additional personnel management issues for hospitals and emergency responders as their recklessness continued to inundate hospitals with positive cases as healthcare workers burned through Personal Protective Equipment faster than it could be resupplied. Being weeks into the response, the decisions of Governors across the country are going to drive the direction the virus takes. Similar to Hurricane Katrina, where the storm’s initial impact was tough, but manageable, the flooding from the broken levees led to the unsettling images that were burned into our nation’s Emergency Management history. The state response is similar to the levees, if they fail to control the building pressure to prematurely reopen government the secondary wave is going to be catastrophic and the damage irreparable.

As we continue to navigate these uncharted waters, we mustn’t forget those who are looking to us for guidance, strength, and leadership. On a world stage, the past few weeks have shown us that despite the hope we place in others to do the right thing, when push comes to shove, people tend to resort to primal instincts of placing “I” above all. The hoarders and price gouging are exhibiting the worst of our society and sending a terrible message to our foreign allies and enemies alike that the U.S. may not be worthy of the head of the international table. Our inability to manage supply lines, show common decency for others, or to protect our first responders are clear-tell signs that we may not be the tip of the spear as we think of ourselves to be.

It’s easy to identify the surface-level impacts, but we cannot overlook the generational impacts occurring. Our Baby Boomers and Gen-X are the most at-risk for health related complications and death, while our Millennials and Gen-Z are dealing with a sudden financial downward spiral with the highest unemployment rate in our country’s history. Looking to the future, our youngest generation is experiencing a lesser-discussed crisis with potentially greater impact on their developing personas. COVID-19 has forced school closures around the nation and led to more questions than answers regarding our children’s educational future. With Virginia closing schools for the remainder of the school year and Florida contemplating reopening on 01 May, how do we ensure kids’ re-entry to school is as least impactful on their acclimation back to a classroom environment after forcing online education during a pandemic? Do they repeat the grade? Are they required to attend summer school to make up missed lessons? Are students who don’t have access to technology in-home responsible for missing work when their parents were depending on their attendance at school throughout the year for their education? We as a nation have to do better if not for our own safety and security, then for the safety and security of our most vulnerable populations.

The response to the COVID-19 is presented a myriad of public policy problems. To me, what is most troubling is the amount of authority that has been vested in government bodies at all level. So far this week, the governor of South Carolina has closed all public beaches and boat ramps. In addition to those restrictions, most, if not all, state parks are closed.

I’m troubled by the government’s actions in closing areas where social distancing could still be practiced. I’m equally troubled by the ripple effect this could cause on individual’s physical and mental health.

From a law enforcement perspective, I’ve heard stories of county jail’s refusing to accept arrested individuals. I’ve also heard that at lease one jail will not hold anyone unless they are charged with a  capital crime.  I have serious concerns as to how this policy will contribute to lawlessness and victimization.

In terms of the government’s response, I feel that the government has done a good job of responding to this crisis. I’d contend this is an unprecedented event, so we are in uncharted territory. I’m encouraged by the government’s work to provide relief to the various interest groups. The government has been working to help hospitals, business, and individual persons.

I think it a tremendous testiment to the resolve and commitment of our govenment and the ability of our representatives to govern by how rapildy the various relief bills passed through congress. For the first time in a while, there was a truly bipartisan approach to legislation.

There are several takeaways from this crisis. First, there is an incredible amount of goodwill that is being demonstrated. Everyday we see stories about communities and people coming together to help. Second, this crisis has demonstrated the downside of America’s foreign reliance. There is a significant amount of medical goods and equipment. This has certainly created national security implications and in some ways, reduced the ability to treat patients.

I’m not sure there is a clear path forward, I think this is something we have to take one day at a time.

Like millions of Americans and fellow citizens around the world, I am nervous about the overall threat COVID-19 presents to our society. While this disease might not be as deadly as some other pandemics we have had in the past, the rapid spread of this disease is worrisome if we do not unite under a common goal of eradicating this disease in the least costly way possible.

I believe we as a country did not take the correct measures to ensure our citizens were protected prior to COVID-19 arriving in our country. We should have seen from the ongoing threat the virus was already presenting in nations such as China, Iran, and South Korea that this virus had the potential to directly impact not only a large percentage of the population, but also cause untold damage to the economy. Our country failed to make sure we were adequately prepared to deal with an outbreak of this magnitude. The national emergency stockpile was not replenished, even when it was known by this Administration and the previous one that supplies needed to be restocked. If our federal government had done a greater job of resupplying its emergency stockpile it is likely to infer we would not be dealing with as widespread of a shortage in medical supplies as we are currently experiencing. However, I do believe that the federal government has been responding fairly well to this ongoing issue in recent days. Trying to ensure citizens get paid during business closures, as well as injecting money directly into the market to ensure a depression does not occur, are necessary steps that have been taken by the federal government in recent days. However, it will be interesting to see if they continue to take such measures as these to ensure its citizens are protected from homelessness, loss of savings, and ultimately free of disease.

I believe our state and local entities have responded more effectively to this ongoing crisis than our federal government has. The social distancing policies, along with closing indoor dining in restaurants, I believe, have greatly reduced the potential for citizens to come into contact with the pathogen, helping to slow its growth throughout the nation. These policies have been implemented as a measure to try and ensure we stay healthy, even if it means sacrificing our temporary wants and desires for long term longevity. The medical field and their staffs have been doing a tremendous job responding to this outbreak and deserve all of the praise in the world for their tireless pursuit in working towards a vaccine and helping those stricken by the virus recover. It is impervious that the individuals receive the praise and adoration they deserve not only throughout this issue, but after it is done to ensure they are never taken for granted.

I am nervous, however, that this situation will continue to get worse and people will begin to show their true side. We have already seen the lengths people will go to, including hoarding, price gouging commonly used items, and fighting others over simple goods and services. If this situation does spiral out of control, I find it difficult to infer people will not devolve into more ruthless versions of themselves. Rather than fighting for the good of society, I fear a majority, or at least a substantial portion of the population, will fight for themselves, without worrying what effects their actions might have on the general population (case in point, the spring breakers in Florida).

We must do what is right, as a city, county, state, and country, to ensure this crisis is resolved as quickly as possible with the fewest number of lives lost. However, we cannot destroy our economy and our very way of life in order to do this. There are necessary steps that will need to be taken if this outbreak continues to get worse, I just hope we as a country and a society do not devolve into a less civilized version of ourselves because of the strain this virus is placing on our society. I desire for us to learn from this outbreak, and take the necessary steps to ensure the likelihood of something of this magnitude does not happen again, or happens again at a much more mild level than it presently is.

If I had to define the US response to COVID-19, the word would be divisive. From the top down, each level of government has struggled to make timely and effective decisions. Having just started work at a hospital, this situation begged the question: why, in the middle of flu season, in 2020, in a country with as much advanced medicine as the United States has, are we this ill-equipped or prepared to handle a SARS virus?

From the federal level, President Trump’s response to the crisis has been botched to say the least. From calling the virus a hoax to promoting an untested drug for the virus, his messaging has been disconnected with that of the CDC and contradictory to the warnings from those countries that have already struggled with the pandemic.

At the state level, SC Governor McMaster has painstakingly closed category after category of nonessential businesses down, while the majority of the state begs to have a stay-at-home order in place. There have been several governors, particularly NY Governor Cuomo, who have been ahead of the curve in the preparedness of their state, however South Carolina’s governor has been slow to make any real movement throughout the crisis.

On a local level, the only park and facility closures have been the main policy related items I have seen. Unrelated to policy, I have seen that our County Fire-Rescue has implemented different PPE procedures than the hospital or any other local healthcare facility, creating their own shortage of N-95 masks. The CEO of our hospital was approached by the Fire Chief today with this issue and stated that they would no longer be masking patients and would be passing that duty along to the hospital. I feel this could be an ethical issue, but luckily our facility has effectively managed our supply of PPE and has the ability to don all patients coming into the facility even when brought in by the ambulance.

There were a few things that came to mind that were unrelated to government policy, but that I felt were necessary to think about concerning policy on COVID-19.

• Strategic National Stockpile and the different procedures of hospitals and hospital groups and the usage of PPE. If this is a national resource during the pandemic, shouldn’t we have universal rules for its usage?
• The knowledge by local governments of their rights to enact stay at home orders. I think that if local governments in SC hadn’t enacted their own orders and instead put pressure on the Governor to enact a statewide order, then SC might not have been one of the last states to do this.

Ending on a positive note, and while it doesn’t have anything to do with government, I think it is important to note the response of the public as a whole (or a majority). Teachers have pulled together online learning for students in just days, stores have created special shopping hours to protect the more vulnerable, doctors are innovating the way we use ventilators, museums have gone virtual, people are sewing homemade masks, patronizing their local businesses in spite of the changes they’ve had to make, and thanking their healthcare workers and first responders. In a very uncertain and often negative time, the public has come together to form their own set of social policies; most of which I hope remain when COVID-19 is gone.

Wash your hands and stay home, people.

How do you know you’re making the right decisions when you’re dealing with something no one in the last 100 years has ever had to deal with? At the federal level, the response to COVID-19 has been reactionary and there’s a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda going on right now from the public. Reports have stated that employees of the pandemic branch of the CDC abruptly resigned in 2018. Their positions were never refilled. With no specific group to handle the situation, President Trump appointed a task force in January to develop a U.S. response to the potential crisis. In February, the president named Vice President Mike Pence to head the group, which has since been providing regular updates to the public on policy decisions and other actions regarding the outbreak.

How do we know what would have worked? A lock down on all out of the country travel right from the start? A mandatory 15 day lockdown? I can’t even imagine our country succeeding at a stay-at-home ordinance. Some of us have to go to work. We have friends who are working in hospitals who could possibly bring the virus home to their loved ones who in turn could take it to work at their City Hall. We’re still going to grocery stores for essential needs and getting gas to get to where we need to go. How do we really know where we got the virus in the first place?  We know the first confirmed reported case was identified in China in December 2019. The first confirmed case outside China was reported on January 20, 2020, in Japan, Thailand, and South Korea. The first case in the United States was identified in Washington state on January 21. But these are all confirmed reported cases. We don’t know if the U.S. had a case before January 21. Is it possible? Yes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started to push basic precautions such as hand-washing and cleaning frequently touched surfaces. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a pandemic. It seems like social distancing is widely seen as the best available means to “flatten the curve” of the pandemic, a phrase that epidemiologists use to describe slowing down the spread of infection. This approach can save lives by keeping local health care systems from being overwhelmed.

I believe South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is doing the best he can at responding to COVID-19. He’s doing everything he can to keep groups from forming while avoiding a mandatory stay-at-home ordinance. I was a bartender for years and I feel for the servers out there who are out of a job right now, but the decision to close restaurants was the most obvious one since that’s the business where germs are spread the most. I’m not a parent and I don’t have much knowledge about working with kids but closing the schools made sense in protecting kids and their families. With schools, restaurants, and businesses closed, the only thing to really do when the weather is nice is to go to the pool or the beach. I believe the governor had no choice but to close our beaches and boat landings because that’s where law enforcement saw the most people over the weekend. It was busy everywhere and people definitely were not social distancing.

At the local level, it looks like municipalities are doing their best to continue operations. I’m grateful to have a job that allows me to work from anywhere and I’m grateful that I was able to pay my rent today. But there’s a lot of people who can’t say the same right now. We were on an economic high just over a month ago. I hope we’re able to get back to where we were and maybe even better.

Over the last 100 years the United States public education system has changed to fit the needs of the citizens. One of the most recent changes which I personally feel will create new policies is how education has been mandated to give as well as receive: online. While homeschooling is not a new concept, it is in the minority of chosen education formats. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not an option, but a necessity. Every school across the nation has been forced to close. Every school across the nation has sent their teachers and professors home to do something that many of them have never done before, provide online instruction. In higher education, while there are still more in-seat students than not, this is not a new concept. For those children in Kindergarten, however, this is a fast changing whole new world. Where small children were just beginning to make new friendships at the start of the year, learning new social cues, and what exactly is the color red, the lives of millions of children all of the America have been changed and possibly forever. It is my belief that because of this abrupt necessary change with children of all ages now receiving their education online, that new policies will put in place to allow for this continued format for those that choose it. Parents, students, and the educators have all answered the call to continue work as usual from the comforts of their own homes while protecting each other from further spread of COVID-19. The grading is another story.

News outlets and papers everywhere are reporting that in higher education the call to give either a pass or fail is necessary. Students have even demanded it. Universities and colleges have begun to concede. For elementary, middle and high school the path is not so clear. Schools are sending students to already established online public schools. But, whether they can receive credit for the work is still uncertain. The need for data is clear, but how soon can the data provide a clear picture to help educators map out the next steps? With COVID-19 death tolls rising, no one is even clear if the brick and mortar schools will even be able to open back up next fall. However, even if schools stay closed longer than anticipated, we may find that parents have to go to work before children do, but how can they? I think this will also bring a wave of changes where we may have to look at providing financial welfare benefits to parents that stay home much like what is done in the Netherlands (please note that my source is my “sister” who is from the Netherlands and lives in Rotterdam – she has told me about something that could be called a child benefit – welfare).

It is my belief that many things in our nation will change as result of COVID-19, the most obvious being education, welfare reform, and healthcare. For these changes to not only take place with a permanent option, so must policies be amended and or created.

Thinking about COVID-19 and the response the US as a whole has taken, I think politics have played too important a part.  Decisions should be based on the best evidence presented and not on “will this get me elected or re-elected?”  But we see this kind of response from the local levels all the way up.  Each town, locale and even university has to think of the bottom dollar and how this will impact the long term.  Working in the Emergency Operations Center for Clemson University has given me some insight that perhaps others will never see.  The due diligence with each and every decision regarding teaching and the students is exhausting.  No decision is made lightly.

Clemson University has taken extraordinary steps to account for and, help if possible, every student enrolled and all the employees associated with CU. The details that have been taken care of are incredible. I say employees associated because CU is worried about their contractor and outside entities as much as those they directly employ. The care and time spent making sure the messaging is right and available down to how we will feed those students who are left on campus, the process is daunting.

The collaboration and cooperation I have seen over the last month is really what Clemson is about.  Different groups, different responsibilities, completely different mindsets all came together to get the job done and it is still ongoing. The question lingering now is how long this will go on.  Events and activities are being cancelled or re-imagined through the summer.  Will this continue into the fall?  We don’t know right now, but if it does, Clemson will be ready.  Every contingency has been thought of and batted around for solutions.

I do wish the governors of all the states could come to an agreement to work together. I don’t think it does a lot of good to close one state and others are spreading the disease in a neighboring state, perhaps China did it best, closed everything! The US is slowly catching on that it’s real and we have to deal with it. I hope we do.

As I reflect on COVID-19 global pandemic my mind is drawn to the fact that so much has changed in so very little time. The U.S. saw its very first cases of coronavirus on January 21^st in Washington State. President Trump responds the following day via Twitter that we have everything under control. The White House Coronavirus Response Task Force was established one week later; we continue to have everything under control (or so we are told). Our first travel bans are issued for China the day after the task force was established. Fast forward five weeks to the first case in California on February 26^th of an individual with no known history of travel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate this is a sign of community spread. President Trump announces the same day that the U.S. is really prepared, citing former President Obama as incompetent with respect to establishing a system that would handle a pandemic however President Trump fired our pandemic response team in 2018. We are where we are because of decisions that have been made.

It was not until March 11^th that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Two days later, President Trump declared a national emergency in support of responding to the growing numbers of U.S. cases. On March 17^th, President Trump under the advisement from the CDC and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), requests that everyone works from home for 14 days and limits social gatherings to no more than 10 people. The U.S. Senate unveiled an economic stimulus package of $1+ trillion two days later and on March 27^th President Trump signed a $2.2 trillion emergency spending bill. Up until this point, President Trump had been hopeful to remove the stay-at-home guidance by Easter. On March 29^th, however, he extended this period to the end of April. Today, we’re over 1 million cases in the world, with the U.S. exceeding 245,000 confirmed cases and more than 6,000 deaths, or over a 2.4% death rate.

Clemson’s Emergency Operations Center activated in the Watt Family Innovation Center, where I work, the afternoon of February 29^th. We’ve remained in an activated state for the past 34 days. As I reflect on the challenges we’ve been through over the last month, I’m really impressed with our University response to COVID-19. We have and continue to make data-informed decisions. We first started with the recall of all of students abroad. As cases began to grow in the U.S., we shifted focus to going online after Spring Break in an effort to extend the time away from campus to prevent our local medical resources from becoming overwhelmed. What other institutions of higher education (IHEs) were doing for their semesters was, and still is, a critical contributor to Clemson’s decision-making process. It is really fun to share that along with another Watt colleague, she and I led IHE data collection for the university with significant focus on the decisions all the ACC and SEC schools were making. We have watched every single White House and SC Governor press conference for the past 34 days. I’ve also been tracking the growth in active cases, deaths, and recovered for the entire U.S. and reporting it in 24-hour and 7-day week trends. These daily data reports are included in the situational report (sitrep) that is distributed to those working on emergency operations and key leadership personnel every weekday. Our actions have always been based on what we think is the next right move to make that reduces risk for the Clemson community. I except that the work is far from over, but I’m so humbled to play a role on a fantastic team leading the University through unprecedented times.