Government
This playbook is provided for governments and public agencies in Greater Des Moines (DSM). Its content considers both people working in an office environment as well as those who are in public spaces that directly serve local residents.
Government and public service agencies have played a critical role in guiding the public through the COVID-19 crisis providing information, guidance and material resources. In the recovery phase, residents will continue to rely upon public agencies and officials, not only to continue supplying real-time guidance on the pandemic, but also to provide everyday public goods and services to the extent possible. Like many organizations, government entities will need to do this through greater reliance on technology and while operating in a weakened economy that may result in smaller public budgets. Local government leaders are encouraged to work with their legal and human resources staff to develop plans that take the needs of employees and the public into account while reducing potential liability and complying with all regulatory requirements.
Sample: DOT Risk Profile
This sample risk profile has been determined for the DOT in DSM. The profile shows frequency, or how many people in a day; duration, or length of typical interaction; and variety, or the number of different people.*
Health & Sanitation
- Conduct a health screening with all employees before their shifts in accordance with the most up to date recommendations from the local public health department.
- Encourage employees who feel sick to stay home. Employees who have had close contact with someone with COVID-19 should consult CDC guidance on when to self-quarantine.
- Face coverings and other PPE should be worn by employees and guests in accordance with the most up-to-date recommendations from the local public health department.
- Train all employees on cleaning processes, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.
- Provide tissues and no-touch trash cans.
- Provide soap and water in the workplace. If soap and water are not readily available, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Ensure that adequate supplies are maintained.
- Ideally, place touchless hand sanitizer stations in multiple locations to encourage hand hygiene.
- Clean high touch surfaces and shared objects once a day.
- You may want to either clean more frequently or choose to disinfect (in addition to cleaning) in shared spaces if certain conditions apply that can increase the risk of infection from touching surfaces:
- High transmission of COVID-19 in your community
- Low number of people wearing masks
- Infrequent hand hygiene
- The space is occupied by people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19
- If there has been a sick person or someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in your facility within the last 24 hours, you should clean AND disinfect the space.
- Discourage workers from using each other’s phones, desks, offices or other work tools and equipment, when possible.
- Provide disposable disinfecting wipes so that employees can wipe down commonly used surfaces (e.g., doorknobs, keyboards, remote controls, desks, other work tools and equipment) before each use.
- Provide accommodations like specific schedules for vulnerable populations if possible.
Process & Space Modifications
- Implement flexible worksites (e.g., telework).
- Implement flexible work hours (e.g., rotate or stagger shifts to limit the number of employees in the workplace at the same time).
- Increase physical space between employees at the worksite by modifying the workspace.
- Increase physical space between employees and customers (e.g., drive-through service, physical barriers such as partitions).
- Use signs, tape marks or other visual cues such as decals or colored tape on the floor, placed at least six feet apart, to indicate where to stand when physical barriers are not possible.
- Implement flexible meeting and travel options (e.g., postpone in-person non-essential meetings or events in accordance with state and local regulations and guidance).
- Use videoconferencing or teleconferencing when possible for work-related meetings and gatherings.
- Close or limit access to common areas where employees are likely to congregate and interact.
- Discourage handshaking. Encourage employees to use other non-contact methods of greeting.
- Deliver services remotely (e.g., phone, video, or web).
- Adjust your business practices to reduce close contact with customers — for example, by providing drive-through service, click-and-collect online shopping, shop-by-phone, curbside pickup and delivery options, where feasible.
- Move the electronic payment terminal/credit card reader farther away from the cashier, if possible, to increase the distance between the customer and the cashier.
- Shift primary stocking activities to off-peak or after hours, when possible, to reduce contact with customers.
- Ensure that ventilation systems operate properly and increase circulation of outdoor air as much as possible, for example by opening windows and doors and prioritizing outdoor seating. Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk to customers or employees (e.g., risk of falling or triggering asthma symptoms).
Communication
- •Post signs and reminders at entrances, in work vehicles and in strategic places providing instruction on social distancing, hand hygiene, use of cloth face coverings or masks and cough and sneeze etiquette. Signs should be accessible for people with disabilities (e.g., large print), easy to understand, and may include signs for non-English speakers, as needed.
- Update employees on steps they can take to protect their own health while at work.
- Encourage workers to report any safety and health concerns immediately.
- Post updates regularly to employees and residents via websites, newsletters and social media as changes occur to the management and use of public spaces.
Emergency and Disaster Operations
In light of severe weather season, state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) authorities should review and adjust their disaster preparedness, response and recovery plans to include COVID-19 precautions and procedures. Key considerations are outlined below.
Preparedness Considerations
- Review and modify your emergency operations plan to align with COVID-19 guidance, to include social distancing limitations, travel restrictions, fiscal impacts, reduction of government services and potential impacts to your supply chain. Update plans with community partners.
- Review and modify your plans to include special considerations for those with access and functional needs in a COVID-19 environment.
- Review and update your Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP).
- Update your resource management inventory to make response personnel available to support non-COVID-19 response.
- Identify essential personnel and potential shortfalls and limitations.
- Identify orders of succession for key personnel and leadership. Consider if critical tasks and decision-making have approved delegations of authority.
- Identify alternate sites and capabilities to ensure COOP to include telework.
- Review and evaluate current mutual aid agreements and Emergency Management Assistance Compacts (EMAC) to see if available resources and/or personnel may be limited due to COVID-19 operations and if agreements should be expanded to include new partners.
- Consider whether COVID-19 response and recovery efforts have identified new partners, resources, planning shortfalls or solutions to include in emergency operations plans and annexes, including private sector partners in grocery, fuel, home mitigation supplies and medical supplies.
- Consider resourcing secondary emergency management roles and responsibilities to support parallel disasters with extended timelines and limited resources.
- Assess your increased personnel requirements and plan for contingency staffing.
- Determine if you can use alternate communications, information technology support and remote operations to operate your Emergency Operations Center (EOC) virtually.
- Explore virtual environment delivery platforms to exercise plans and overcome the challenges of limited face-to-face training, seminars and workshops.
- Consider strategies to keep a disaster from overwhelming 9-1-1 centers.
- Develop and disseminate accessible, multilingual and culturally appropriate messaging to inform the public of changes in expected services or procedures (e.g., changes to shelter locations, evacuation routes, available transportation methods) due to impacts from COVID-19 and ensure the messaging is accessible and available in alternative formats for persons with disabilities.
- Update pre-scripted messages to incorporate the current recommended PPE posture for disaster survivors and provide deconflicting guidance regarding any stay-at-home orders or other guidance.
- Develop accessible, multilingual and culturally appropriate messaging on increased personal preparedness measures and encourage your community to evaluate personal emergency plans and familiarize themselves with guidance from their local jurisdictions related to COVID-19.
- Advise individuals and households to track their critical financial, medical and household information by using FEMA’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK) as a guide (see below under Resources and References).
- Engage with public health officials to identify guidelines for workforce response in a COVID-19 environment.
- Identify the essential workforce necessary for continuing critical infrastructure viability by using the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) advisory list as a guide.
- Engage nonprofits and small businesses to discuss how you would respond and recover from a natural hazard event in a COVID-19 environment.
Response Considerations
- Evaluate if you have purchased and stockpiled appropriate PPE and necessary commodities during response operations, especially if available resources have been allocated to COVID-19 response.
- Consider updating your vendor contracts and agreements to procure and deliver supplies and equipment in case of a shortage.
- Modify your evacuation plan to account for limited travel options and hotel availability, increased need for health and medical evacuations, financial limitations of the general public and additional impacts from COVID-19.
- Consider the extra time it may take to evacuate given the need for social distancing that mass transit modes (e.g., buses) may require.
- Consider if your continuity plans adequately address how to respond if your agency/department or your partner agency has reduced staffing or other capabilities, such as facilities and commodities, due to COVID-19.
- Evaluate plans to integrate FEMA personnel and/or other federal partners into your response operations.
- Designate a point of contact and information exchange platform to continue coordination with critical infrastructure and private sector partners.
- Ensure you have a system to collect and share data to support decision-making and facilitate development of a common operating picture for multiple response operations.
- Consider expanded use of aerial imagery and other remote sensing capabilities to gain and maintain situational awareness and conduct damage assessments.
- Consider if special operations teams (e.g., Urban Search and Rescue, HazMat) are still mission capable and have adopted CDC guidelines for PPE and training.
- Consider if your EOC have enough information technology personnel to support increased numbers of remote emergency responders and if they trained to work remotely and support remote work for extended periods on multiple disasters.
- Determine if you have established a Business Emergency Operations Center that can coordinate and collaborate with the private sector and the National Business Emergency Operations Center.
- Coordinate with public health officials in your jurisdiction regarding evacuation and shelter safety, infection control and planning.
- Develop accessible, multilingual and culturally appropriated pre-scripted messages for communicated evacuation and shelter-in-place updates.
- Shelter operations should take into consideration social distancing, health screening, cleaning and sanitizing, high-risk populations and other operational protocols outlined in the CDC’s Interim Guidance for General Population Disaster Shelters During the COVID-19 Pandemic, which can be found in the Resources and References section below.
- Evaluate if you have a mechanism to increase public transportation, including accessible buses, vans, etc., if economic impacts preclude citizens from self-evacuating, to include paratransit for persons with disabilities.
- Evaluate how to manage re-occupancy procedures given the constraints and impacts of COVID-19.
- Evaluate how to deliver essential government functions given the constraints and impacts of COVID-19.
- Consider if energy sector partners have adequate staffing to generate, transmit and distribute power and fuel to the community if staffing is reduced.
- Consider if emergency repairs for energy infrastructure account for COVID-19 social distancing or PPE needs.
- Consider if your jurisdiction has plans for priority power restoration for individuals with disabilities and health conditions that require power for life sustainment.
- Ensure responders have access to dedicated mobile or internet bandwidth.
- Engage with critical infrastructure and private sector partners to confirm their hazardous materials storage facilities are secure and their response plans are updated to reflect the current COVID-19 environment.
- Consider if you have the materials and resources needed for a hazardous or toxic materials incident.
- Test your primary, alternate, contingency and emergency communications capabilities and ability to send public announcements.
- Consider converting town hall meetings and press conferences to accessible and multilingual virtual platforms.
- Ensure 9-1-1 dispatch and public safety answering points are available and accessible to citizens in need, including people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and/or without speech or persons with limited English proficiency. Provide information on accessing 3-1-1, 2-1-1, mental/behavioral health hotlines, animal control and other 24-hour community service help lines to control the flow of incoming calls.
Recovery Considerations
- Determine the lead agencies and individuals managing and coordinating disaster recovery efforts. Identify who has authority to make formal decisions related to disaster recovery.
- Determine how COVID-19 response actions and leadership intersect with disaster recovery actions and leadership and identify a mechanism to ensure both efforts are coordinated.
- Determine how agencies and organization will coordinate recovery efforts.
- Determine who is responsible for releasing information to the public within the jurisdiction.
- Determine if you have a process to synchronize messages between SLTT entities.
- Identify how to maximize community input and buy-in for recovery efforts. Ensure mechanisms are in place to reach isolated or underserved communities and individuals with access and functional needs.
- Determine if you have required software licenses to conduct large-scale public engagements remotely and have trained personnel to operate these systems.
- Evaluate if you have adequate staffing plans to assure continuity in staffing the management and implementation of disaster recovery efforts in a COVID-19 environment.
- Determine critical vs. noncritical recovery functions.
- Consider how you will manage building and housing inspections and re-occupancy procedures, given the constraints and impacts of COVID-19.
- Identify if you have any pre-positioned contracts for disaster housing-related services and confirm that these contracts are still valid in the COVID-19 environment.
- Consider what health and safety protocols can impact the return to, and occupancy of, homes and buildings and the relevant agencies involved in making those decisions.
- Establish virtual communications and information sharing platforms for Public Assistance Applicant Briefings and Requests.
- Evaluate how you will provide the homeless population with services in accordance with CDC guidance, while ensuring the health and safety of emergency responders and recovery personnel.
- Evaluate how you will provide individuals with access and functional needs with services in accordance with ADA and CDC guidance.
- Evaluate if you can manage recovery functions as stipulated in your recovery plan following the constraints and impacts of COVID-19.
- Evaluate your jurisdictions existing financial management practices for disaster and recovery and determine if adjustments are needed to comply with procurement requirements in a COVID-19 environment.
- Access how you will access critical recovery funding.
- Develop a process to determine eligibility for all relevant funding opportunities.
Providing Information
Recognizing the importance of accurate information, the Polk County Health Department, the Iowa Department of Public Health and 211 have partnered with RACI and Lutheran Services in Iowa to launch a hotline to help DSM residents who have limited English skills. Learn more about these multilingual services.
Promoting Wellbeing
In the spirit of the #DSMlocalchallenge, DART has been partnering with several local businesses to keep employees safe through providing face masks and hand sanitizer. Read more about their keeping #DSMstrong.
Financial Assistance
The Partnership, Polk County and the City of Des Moines teamed up with Carlisle, Clive, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk, Urbandale, West Des Moines, Warren County and Windsor Heights to create a Small Business Recovery Grants program to help keep small DSM businesses in business.
Recommended Playbooks
The business function playbooks include takeaways that are specific to professional functions that could be present in any business, regardless of industry.
*We note that these assessments are qualitative and based on expert-led judgment (Johns Hopkins, 2020). Currently, there are not enough detailed data available to enable quantitative risk stratification. Businesses will need to make decisions about re-initiating business activities before there are validated data to know the precise levels of risk.
Legal Disclaimer
The Greater Des Moines Partnership's DSM Forward playbook is
not intended to constitute legal advice or provide specific direction. The preparation of a business continuity or preparations plan should be undertaken with the advice and direction of appropriate specialists and personnel, in consideration of the unique circumstances impacting each business. Third-party websites or material linked to or referenced in DSM Forward are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a recommendation of The Partnership of that material or its authors.
Last updated: 5/17/2021