Preparedness is usually reported as a federal budget line, which makes it easy to ignore. It arrives in your life as something narrower: whether the emergency department near you can absorb a surge, whether the state lab can run enough tests in a week, and whether your child's school district has a workable plan.
Trust for America's Health scored all 50 states and the District of Columbia against 10 readiness indicators in its latest Ready or Not report, placing 20 states in a high-performance tier, 17 states and DC in a middle tier, and 13 states in a low tier. The indicators include healthcare workforce mobility through the Nurse Licensure Compact, public health department accreditation, state public health funding, community water system safety, access to paid sick leave, flu vaccination rates, patient safety in hospitals, and avoidable mortality.
