Read on Twitter
While at #NICAR20 (what feels like a year ago) I heard about these plans that cities are supposed to have for responding to infectious disease outbreaks. I also heard they were sometimes secret, which seemed ... weird. (1/)
So I walked over to @meg_anders's desk (remember when we could do that?) and we just started calling the biggest cities in the US to ask to see their pandemic response plans.
It did not go well. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/820104179/want-to-see-what-your-citys-pandemic-plan-says-good-luck (2/)
It did not go well. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/820104179/want-to-see-what-your-citys-pandemic-plan-says-good-luck (2/)
A number of cities cited security reasons for not releasing their plans. Others wouldn't give a reason, or just never got back to us. Some pointed us to outdated plans that were posted online, but said their most recent plans were secret. (3/)
Why's this matter? Here's two reasons, from experts we talked to. 1: Just like any government program, citizens should be able to view and critique their cities' plans _before_ they're needed — not in the middle of a crisis. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/820104179/want-to-see-what-your-citys-pandemic-plan-says-good-luck (4/)
2: As we've learned the last few weeks, this kind of emergency requires MASSIVE buy-in from the public. If the government can't trust us to know their plans, it could hurt the public's trust to follow their directions. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/820104179/want-to-see-what-your-citys-pandemic-plan-says-good-luck (5/)
Anyway, good on San Diego for posting their updated plans online ( https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/oes/emergency_management/plans/op-area-plan/2018/2018-Annex-E-Public-Health-Operations.pdf). And thanks to the few other cities who were willing to send us them (we're hosting those in google docs you can access through the article) https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/820104179/want-to-see-what-your-citys-pandemic-plan-says-good-luck (6/6) </thread>
