May 8, 2020 | ISSUE 7 COVID-19: This Week's News, Insights + AAR Tips Weekly quick insights for your situational awareness and benchmarking. Health vs. Economics. What are the health and economic tradeoffs to states reopening ahead of schedule? Calculate them for yourself here. RAND Corp. has created this interactive assessment tool to help policymakers understand the impact of their decisions. Counting Down to Re-Opening in the West. The Western States Pact has all member states initiating their reopening actions over the next 7 days. But Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and California’s plans still limit large, in-person gatherings (i.e. concerts and live sports) until there is a coronavirus vaccine. But, Are We Meeting the Benchmarks? Technically...not really. Although most states in the country (about 30 altogether) have begun reopening their economies, most have not met White House guidelines. In fact, many are seeing an increase in daily average cases, instead of a decline. Who is Most Affected Now? Like other emergencies, the coronavirus is disproportionately affecting Black, Brown, poor, and elderly communities. The Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM) is offering virtual townhalls and publishing articles to help emergency managers figure out what to do about it. Have a Story to Share? Thought you might. The biggest emergency management conference of the year is still on. If you have an impactful coronavirus experience or presentation to share, submit your speaker application before IAEM’s extended deadline (June 1st). Every week, we’ll dedicate space for a topic that we think is especially important for emergency managers to read. This week, we’re focusing on preparing the best after-action reports possible. Here are best practices we’ve gathered from around the web and our team: Do an interim AAR now, so you can incorporate lessons for the Fall and beyond. Commit to holding short AAR meetings throughout response and recovery. Ask your team three key questions: What was expected to happen? What actually happened? What caused the difference? Require that comments, insights, and lessons be tied to recommendations. Identify a team or position that would be responsible for every potential future action. Sources: HBR, UPenn, HSToday, and Forbes The key is to keep collecting information while it's still fresh in everyone’s minds. Other actions for you to consider, include: Dedicate space on a whiteboard for staff to post sticky notes with lessons learned or recommendations as ideas come to them. This space is meant to fill up over time and help source new ideas, if time for AAR meetings are limited during the response. Onboard someone whose job is solely focused on information gathering (i.e. staff stories, data, and team memo collection). Seek and include feedback from the community and counterparts in other departments to see holistic view on how other experience your team’s efforts. Is your team doing anything that seems novel or particularly effective in after-action reporting? Share it with us and we’ll share your comments in next week’s newsletter! Did you know, costs for COVID-19 AAR development are eligible for reimbursement? If you need help, shoot us an email. Please, Not Another Disaster. We hope not. But while the country is busy responding to coronavirus, states are also gearing up for wildfire and hurricane seasons that are right around the corner. The GAO is recommending that FEMA bolster its plans to deploy better equipped staff to support state and local responses. Art + Heroes = Adobe is calling experienced and aspiring creatives alike to honor coronavirus heroes in the most visually stunning way. Did You Know? Constant Associates provides support for COVID-19 responses around the country. If you need help with AARs, running your EOC, or support with testing, contact [email protected]. Resilience is CONSTANT. ​ ​ ​.