More than technology: Experiences of Virtual Emergency Operations Centers (VEOCs) during the COVID-19 pandemic response in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated emergency management offices and organizations across Canada to activate their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a virtual capacity due to government restrictions limiting in-person activities and with the goal of reducing the spread of the virus. The aim of this exploratory research paper is to document the personal experiences of Canadian emergency management professionals working in a Virtual EOC (VEOC) environment during the COVID-19 response, including challenges and benefits they experienced, as well as lessons identified. Based on a sample of 81 emergency management professionals and using an inductive coding approach, the survey results illustrate both technological and nontechnological challenges and benefits. The findings highlight the need to incorporate three main elements into VEOC planning and operations: technology, processes, and people.

When emergencies and disasters collide: Lessons from the response to the Magna, Utah earthquake during the COVID-19 pandemic

The following article addresses the complexities of responding to the Magna, Utah earthquake under conditions of the global corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The article begins with a brief mention of the literature on complex disasters along with the research methods employed for the study. Contextual information about COVID-19 and the Magna earthquake are then provided along with general issues that had to be addressed in the public health emergency and after the seismic hazard occurred. The following two sections identify how COVID-19 benefited the response to the earthquake as well as how the virus complicated operations after the tremor. The article then discusses major lessons of this research and provides recommendations for future study and practice. Overall, this research reveals that the responses to these two simultaneous events witnessed successes as well as significant challenges. The appearance of COVID-19 may have limited injuries or the loss of life during the Magna earthquake, and it also enabled an early activation of the emergency operations center (EOC). However, COVID-19 presented unique challenges for evacuation, sheltering, and damage assessment functions. The pandemic also altered the nature of EOC operations, created the need for a virtual response, and had distinct implications for financial accounting and personnel workload.

Characteristics of Lassa Fever Outbreak in Ondo State, Nigeria, Year 2019

Background: Lassa fever (LF) is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness of a 2–21-day incubation period that occurs in West Africa. It is endemic in Nigeria and peaks during the first 12 weeks of the year. On January 22, 2019, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) declared an outbreak of LF following an upsurge of LF cases in the country. A total of 213 confirmed cases including 41 deaths were reported from sixteen states including Ondo State. A multi-sectoral national rapid-response-team (RRT) was deployed to Ondo State to characterise the outbreak, assess its determinants, and institute control measures. Methods: An Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated to coordinate activities. We defined a suspected case as anyone with one or more of the following symptoms: malaise, fever, headache, sore throat, cough, vomiting and either history of contact with rodents, or a probable or confirmed LF case in the past 21 days, or any person with inexplicable bleeding between January 1, 2019, to February 26, 2019, in Ondo State. A confirmed case was any suspected case with laboratory confirmation. We conducted active case search, collected data using the LF case investigation form and reviewed the existing line list. We conducted contact tracing in hospitals and affected Local Government Areas (LGA). Data was analysed using and Epi info 7.0. Results: We identified 287 LF suspected cases in 6 LGAs; 118 were confirmed with 21 deaths (case fatality rate: 17.8%). The mean age was 39.2 ±20 years with a male-to-female ratio of 1.3:1. Of the 1,269 contacts line-listed, 20 became symptomatic, while 14 (70.0%) were confirmed positive. The secondary attack rate was 1.1%. Conclusion: The confirmed cases were more of primary cases, hence the need to focus more on reducing rodent-to-human transmission of LF. We recommend continuous education on community and health facility infection prevention control, contact tracing and enforcement of environmental sanitation measures across the state to mitigate future outbreaks

Determination of a New Coastal ENSO Oceanic Index for Northern Peru

In 2017, extreme rainfall events occurred in the northern portion of Peru, causing nearly 100,000 victims, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (COEN). This climatic event was attributed to the occurrence of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine and differentiate between the occurrence of canonical ENSO, with a new type of ENSO called “El Niño Costero” (Coastal El Niño). The polynomial equation method was used to analyze the data from the different types of existing ocean indices to determine the occurrence of ENSO. It was observed that the anomalies of sea surface temperature (SST) 2.5 °C (January 2016) generated the “Modoki El Niño” and that the anomaly of SST −0.3 °C (January 2017) generated the “Modoki La Niña”; this sequential generation generated El Niño Costero. This new knowledge about the sui generis origin of El Niño Costero, based on the observations of this analysis, will allow us to identify and obtain important information regarding the occurrence of this event. A new oceanic index called the Pacific Regional Equatorial Index (PREI) was proposed to follow the periodic evolution and forecast with greater precision a new catastrophic event related to the occurrence of El Niño Costero and to implement prevention programs.

Efficient cooking program in times of COVID-19 in the province of Cotopaxi: energy demand

The purpose of this research is to analyze the monthly energy consumption by the users of the PEC program (Energy Efficiency Program for induction cooking and electric water heating) of ELEPCO SA (Empresa Eléctrica Provincial Cotopaxi Sociedad Anónima) before and after the curfew measures dictated by the national “COE” (Emergency Operations Center) in response to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 disease. Carried out by taking into account four strata distributed according the energy consumption levels, its variance in relation to the year 2019 and applying the linear regression method to estimate the average monthly demand in relation to the curfew time, resulting in that the rate The increase in the period April-May 2019 versus April-May 2020 is 5.17% and analyzing only stratum B in the period March-July 2019 in relation to March-July 2020 is 8.02%, estimating that for the month of August 2020 the will have an average monthly consumption of 215,441 KWh in stratum A

Experience and practice of the Emergency Operations Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: a case study of response to the H7N9 outbreak

Background Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a place to provide response to public health emergencies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)’s EOC was officially established in 2016, which has been the core department for the public health emergencies and risk response. In recent years, we have been continuously improving the function of EOC through many incidents. In the study, we hope to share the construction status, operation management experience of China CDC’s EOC and the response process in the human avian influenza A (H7N9) outbreak. Main text The China CDC’s EOC mainly focus on building the five core elements including sites/places and facilities, information and data, plans and procedures, training and exercises, and logistics. Based on summarizing previous emergency response, the China CDC’s EOC established its own incident management and the standardized response procedures. The event-specific data, context-specific data and event management data could be obtained through various source. The logistics department of the EOC also provides comprehensive support. The well-trained staff is another necessary conditions for its operation. Through sharing the response process of H7N9 outbreak, it further explains the EOC’s functions in the five phases of outbreak response, such as the formulation of the incident response framework, monitoring, personnel dispatch and resource mobilization. Conclusions The EOC contributes to faster and more efficient responses during emergencies which enable a greater reduction in morbidity and mortality. Compared with the traditional incident response process, under the command and coordination of China CDC’s EOC, each group involved in the response has a clearer goal, responsibilities and tasks at each stage. Meanwhile, each group also gave full play to its own expertise and advantages. As a whole, incident response tended to be more specialized and precise, which generally improves the efficiency of incident response. However, different countries and regions have different response processes to the events. We still suggested that appropriate emergency operation plan should be made according to the complexity of incident response in the region when constructing response mechanism, through our experience. And the China CDC’s EOC is still at growing and groping phase. Graphic abstract

Experience and practice of the Emergency Operations Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: A case study of response to the H7N9 outbreak

Background: Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a place to provide response to public health emergencies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)’s EOC was officially established in 2016, which has been the core department for the public health emergencies and risk response. In recent years, we have been continuously improving the function of EOC through many incidents. In the study, we hope to share the construction status, operation management experience of China CDC’s EOC and the response process in the human avian influenza A (H7N9) outbreak.Main text: The China CDC’s EOC mainly focus on building the five core elements including sites/places and facilities, information and data, plans and procedures, training and exercises, and logistics. Based on summarizing previous emergency response, the China CDC’s EOC established its own incident management and the standardized response procedures. The event-specific data, context-specific data and event management data could be obtained through various source. The logistics department of the EOC also provides comprehensive support. And that the well-trained staff is another necessary conditions for its operation. Through sharing the response process of H7N9 outbreak, it further explains the EOC’s functions in the five phases of outbreak response, such as the formulation of the incident response framework, monitoring, personnel dispatch and resource mobilization.Conclusions: The EOC contributes to faster and more efficient responses during emergencies which enable a greater reduction in morbidity and mortality. Compared with the traditional incident response process, under the command and coordination of China CDC’s EOC, each group involved in the response has a clearer goal, responsibilities and tasks at each stage. Meanwhile, each group also gave full play to its own expertise and advantages. As a whole, incident response tended to be more specialized and precise, which generally improves the efficiency of incident response. However, different countries and regions have different response processes to the events. We still suggested that appropriate emergency operation plan should be made according to the complexity of incident response in the region when constructing response mechanism, through our experience. And the China CDC’s EOC is still at growing and groping phase.

A Rare Ice Storm in the Colorado Rockies

During the early morning hours of 9 January 2017, freezing rain developed across several valley locations in western Colorado. The resultant ice accumulation led to extremely treacherous travel conditions with hundreds of vehicle accidents reported in the vicinity of Grand Junction, Colorado and near Durango, Colorado. Additionally, widespread power outages were reported in Durango and near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. First responders were overwhelmed by the volume increase of emergency calls, and secondary services were requested from nearby municipalities to help with the increased workload. The emergency operations center in Mesa County, Colorado (Grand Junction) was activated as a result of the numerous accidents and injuries across the region. An ice storm of this magnitude has not been experienced in Grand Junction’s period of record, which dates back to 1893. A detailed investigation explores the physical processes responsible for this ice storm over the complex terrain of the Intermountain West.