Performance of Point of Dispensing Setup Drills for Distribution of Medical Countermeasures: United States and Territories, 2012-2016.

Objectives: To describe results of points of dispensing (POD) medical countermeasure drill performance among local jurisdictions.

Methods: To compare POD setup times for each year, we calculated descriptive statistics of annual jurisdictional POD setup data submitted by over 400 local jurisdictions across 50 states and 8 US territories to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program monitoring database from July 2012 to June 2016.

Results: In data collected from July 2012 to June 2015, fewer than 5% of PODs required more than 240 minutes to set up, although the proportion increased from July 2015 to June 2016 to almost 12%.

Improvements in State and Local Planning for Mass Dispensing of Medical Countermeasures: The Technical Assistance Review Program, United States, 2007-2014.

Objectives: To evaluate and describe outcomes of state and local medical countermeasure preparedness planning, which is critical to ensure rapid distribution and dispensing of a broad spectrum of life-saving medical assets during a public health emergency.

Methods: We used 2007 to 2014 state and local data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Technical Assistance Review. We calculated descriptive statistics from 50 states and 72 local Cities Readiness Initiative jurisdictions that participated in the Technical Assistance Review annually.

School District Crisis Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Plans - United States, 2012.

The unique characteristics of children dictate the need for school-based all-hazards response plans during natural disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and terrorism (1-3). Schools are a critical community institution serving a vulnerable population that must be accounted for in public health preparedness plans; prepared schools are adopting policies and plans for crisis preparedness, response, and recovery (2-4). The importance of having such plans in place is underscored by the development of a new Healthy People 2020 objective (PREP-5) to "increase the percentage of school districts that require schools to include specific topics in their crisis preparedness, response, and recovery plans" (5).