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OVERVIEW
The Coronavirus or possibly more commonly known as COVID-19 hit the United States
early 2020 and has hence plagued the entire nation. The virus has caused the loss of thousands
of lives, both directly and indirectly. Mental health is getting worse as the months go on and still
seems to be no end in sight. Scientists work tirelessly to find a vaccination, while those in the
House of Representatives and Senate struggle to pass a bill to assist struggling businesses and
those who are out of a job due to COVID-19. The symptoms for this disease are very similar to a
common cold and common allergy. “The most common symptoms include a fever, dry cough,
and tiredness” (W., 2020). “While the least common include aches and pains, sore throat,
diarrhea, conjunctivitis, headache, loss of taste or smell, a rash or a discoloration of fingers or
toes” (W., 2020). While these are alarming and should be taken seriously, the most “serious
symptoms include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, and loss of
speech or movement” (W., 2020). Upon diagnosis of this disease an individual is forced to go
into quarantine typically for fourteen days and potentially longer if the individual is unable to be
cleared by doctors. In the most severe cases the disease can result in death. The United States has
continuously question what was done to mitigate the effect of COVID-19, how well the nation
was prepared for this crisis, the response and is continuously examined for its recovery from this
ever-changing disease that no one can find a solution for. This paper will examine each of these
phases in managing COVID-19 in the United States.
MITIGATION
The first phase of emergency management is the mitigation and prevention of the crisis.
During this phase we saw the President cease any travel to and from China to assist in deterring
the crisis from touching down in America. The efforts fell extremely short here seeing that the
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virus would spread rapidly throughout the United States. Mitigation efforts were put into place
by the CDC stating that “Individuals need to follow healthy hygiene practices, staying home
when sick, practicing physical distancing, and using a cloth face covering in community settings
when physical distancing cannot be maintained” (C., 2020). The goals of the CDC in this phase
were to set in place a guideline for the local and lower-level government to follow and build off.
Most of the local agencies enforced social distancing in local business by installing arrows and
stickers on the floor to promote social distancing and adhering to orders passed down from the
Governors. “At the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, the hospital began to cancel elective
surgeries, implemented social distancing, and mandated staff to wear more personal protective
equipment. This personal protective equipment or PPE would consist of masks, gowns, face-
shields or goggles, and gloves at all times while on duty” (Bozsoki, 2020). Additionally, the
Cleveland Clinic would limit the number of visitors to coming into the building. The security at
the facility was then provided with extra security to screen all those that would enter the
premises (Bozsoki, 2020). Throughout this phase on a national level the government received
scrutiny in its decision making to assist in mitigating the effect of the corona virus. At a local
level though in the state of Ohio, it seemed that the Governor was doing whatever he possibly
could to mitigate the effect of COVID-19.
PREPAREDNESS
During this phase we can see the planning, budgeting, and organization of a crisis team to
be formed to assist in the handling of the crisis. This phase was especially difficult for the nation
considering the world had no clue what this disease was nor how to appropriately handle it.
While the United States was not immediately impacted by the corona virus, the threat was still
present. The nation prepared for this disease in a very rushed and sloppy fashion. In the earliest
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months of COVID19 hitting the nation the hospitals would be overran in some regions, the ICUs
would begin to overflow and staffing in hospitals would become an issue once more first-
responders would become infected by the disease. On a more micro level, the “Cleveland Clinic
prepared for the disease by directing funding to an educational building to transform into a
functioning hospital by running lines of oxygen throughout, adding oxygen tanks, supplying
patient beds and ventilators” (Bozsoki, 2020). The Cleveland Clinic also planned to move all
COVID related patients to a few satellite campuses and put a hold on all elective surgeries
(Bozsoki, 2020). Training was also implemented to better handle COVID cases, how to react to
COVID patients that code or go into cardiac arrest (Bozsoki, 2020). Finally, they supplied
proper PPE to ensure the safety of staff and patients throughout the clinic. The nation seemed to
drop the ball when preparing for the spreading of COVID-19. The nation was underprepared to
properly handling this disease which was seen by the public with differences from state to state.
The Cleveland Clinic seemed to have prepared for this crisis very well allowing for their
response and handling of this crisis to be a prime example of how to properly prepare for a
disease of this nature.
RESPONSE
This phase of emergency management is when its time to respond to the emergency and
implement the steps taken in the preparation phase. Considering the United States’ preparedness
for the disease, their response did not entirely fall short. This was due to a crisis team already
being in place for an occasion such as this. The initial action taken by the government was for
immediate shutdown. Doing this allowed for the limiting of the spread of the virus so then the
hospitals would not be overrun with patients. Additionally, it allowed for the coordination of
rapid response teams with local agencies to better organize and assist in the response and
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recovery efforts (C., 2020JUN). The Cleveland Clinic did this by filtering COVID-19 patients to
satellite hospitals, limiting exposure to staff and visitors in some cases (Bozsoki, 2020). The
Cleveland Clinic also, “created drive through testing centers to promote efficiency in testing,
began screening each staff member and visitor aiming to gain access to the Clinic” (Bozsoki,
2020). Security was also enhanced throughout the facilities to ensure testing was done for
temperature, physical distancing was practiced and the wear of facial coverings (Bozsoki, 2020).
This phase on a national level was far from perfect but thankfully local hospitals in some areas
were able to respond appropriately to this crisis in ensuring the safety of staff, visitors, and
patients.
RECOVERY
This phase involves every moment after the immediate response to the crisis at hand.
The recovery phase during this crisis has been going on for most of the year 2020. The United
States Government has approved a bill to assist in individuals’ livelihoods, local businesses and
for the survival of the economy. The Cleveland Clinic has and is continuously enforcing the
screening process for all patients, staff and any individuals who are actively seeking entry to the
Clinic (Bozsoki, 2020). They are also limiting the number of visitors to be allowed on site or
with loved ones to further promote safety. Temperature checks and thermal scanning is
conducted for everyone (Bozsoki, 2020). Extensive cleaning is conducted around the clock and
each staff member is required to wear all pieces of PPE. Social distancing is enforced along with
the requirement of washing hands as one enters and exits a patient’s room. This phase is an area
that has yet to see any end in sight to. The nation is still on lock down, people are struggling to
find work, people are dying, and the cure or vaccination is yet to be found. The Cleveland Clinic
has done an excellent job in managing this disease that seems to be continuously mutating. But
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the nation is crippling, and the representatives of the nation cannot seem to reach an agreement
to pass another bill to push the people through the year.
CONCLUSION
The nation’s handling of this crisis seems to have been entirely disorganized and handled
like a “hot potato” passing the responsibility to one person after the next, training was sparse,
and it seemed the nation was doomed. The mitigation phase was conducted appropriately by
trying to cut America off from the source of the virus. The biggest issue the nation had, and why
the other phases in the emergency management was such a mess was in its preparedness phase.
This is where a large amount of the issues took place, without a proper plan the response and
recovery phases cannot be acted on properly. I would recommend putting more time into
listening to those that specialize in disease control or management. Finding out what resources
are needed, how to obtain and distribute them out and to collect data in all areas to assist in the
better response and recovery to this pandemic. The response phase needed more attention to
building the proper guidelines in the preparation phase so the citizens could have followed
guidelines to the emergency. Instead, the nation went into a frenzy immediately hearing of a
quarantine. Throughout the recovery phase though, the nation has mainly come together in some
areas, hospitals have implemented more guidelines to better serve the staff, patients and visitors
allowing them to run seemingly smooth. The management of the corona virus has been messy
when examining at a national level, but once looking at the local level, we can see that the
hospitals, local communities have been working together to combat this virus and mitigate it
further.
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References
W. (2020). Coronavirus. Retrieved December 14, 2020, from https://www.who.int/health-
topics/coronavirus
C. (2020, October 29). Community Mitigation Framework. Retrieved December 14, 2020, from
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/community-mitigation.html
C. (2020, March 20). Steps Healthcare Facilities Can Take Now to Prepare for COVID-19.
Retrieved December 14, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/hcp/steps-to-prepare.html
C. (2020, June 23). COVID-19 Rapid Response Team Guidance. Retrieved December 14, 2020,
from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/global-covid-19/rtt-management-
introduction.html
Bozsoki, H. (2020, December 13). COVID-19 Emergency management with the Cleveland
Clinic [Personal interview].
CDC COVID Data Tracker. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2020, from
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/
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