Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Yesterday, RCN launched Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's R-Cities Board Chair's Agenda for "climate-ready infrastructure that is equitable and produces green jobs". This agenda expands RCN's commitment to support cities across the world in a resilient recovery. The preliminary actions for advancing this agenda include; 'Assessing R-Cities work across the network that advances this agenda; Engaging with existing communities of practice, programmes, and partners to share and exchange knowledge around this agenda; and Mobilizing resources to deliver place-based projects in multiple cities that advance the agenda'. This initiative will support resilience in cities in multiple ways, including:

• Call for de-siloing investments in resilience to create climate-ready infrastructure that is equitable and creates green jobs
• Amplify the co-benefits of city transitions to net zero greenhouse gas emissions
• Demonstrate how interconnected services, that support communities and economies, can withstand the disruptions of an uncertain future with climate-ready infrastructure
• Demonstrate how climate-ready infrastructure embraces innovation and the interdependencies of resilient city systems, that are critical to equitable outcomes for people
• Watch the latest Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #07 Earth Day which launches this agenda here.

Concurrent emergencies such as disruption to water supply or contamination of water resources can have serious impacts on healthcare facilities and the health of individuals, which may be amplified during a pandemic. Water outages or contaminated water can disrupt clinical procedures, e.g. maintaining a sterile environment in hospitals. Protecting water supply is also crucial during a pandemic, as poor hygiene is a catalyst for the rapid spread of infectious disease. Consider:

• Early scenario planning to consider different types of water shortages alongside the pandemic, and assess potential impacts on health facilities and public health
• The need to establish new systems to provide immediate support to communities in the event of water supply disruption or contamination during COVID-19:
  • Evaluate emergency response measures (e.g. mass water distribution) to determine if they are COVID-safe, and make necessary amendments if required
  • Plan for the need to construct and install handwashing stations in affected communities, to prevent rapid spread of the virus
• The potential for water stagnation to occur in buildings that have been unoccupied over the last year, which may lead to contamination
  • Identify buildings that have been unoccupied and plan for maintenance contractors to test and repair water systems before allowing the building to re-open

As hospitality venues prepare for a safe re-opening, technology can support customer safety and rebuild client confidence. For example, the necessity of contactless service delivery has accelerated and motivated the wider adoption of new technologies across hospitality venues. Consider developing an audit and certification process that supports and guides hospitality venues in the adoption of new technology:

• Identify actions that can make hospitality venues more COVID-safe using technology e.g. replace tangible menus with an ordering app, use scannable QR codes, replace room keys with mobile keys, contactless communications using customer-facing technology tools, guest communications via chatbots/messaging platforms, contactless temperature checks at entrances, air quality improvement and ventilation via bipolar ionisation technology
• Use the identified actions to establish a checklist of practices that hospitality venues may be audited against
• Identify the minimum requirement for hospitality venues to be eligible for certification of COVID-safe technology adoption and service provision
• Identify how the hospitality venue protects its customers by using secure platforms
• Use the checklist and minimum requirements as part of an audit process to certify the safety of hospitality venues
• Apply the audit process to hospitality venues
• Use the audit process to identify further actions that hospitality venues can implement to increase their COVID-safety
• Publicise a list of certified hospitality venues
• Provide certified hospitality venues with certificates/logos that they can display in their window and online
• Have a whistleblower procedure for staff and customers to report serious breaches

Previously, employers in the USA have supported influenza preparedness by providing on-site clinics to administer flu shots for their staff. It may be possible for organisations to use previous arrangements and infrastructure for flu vaccination to support the COVID-19 vaccination programme. If organisations do not have such infrastructure, developing it could help support COVID-19 vaccination programmes and expedite employees return to work. This may be dependent on the type of vaccinations available and requirements for their storage. When a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available and accessible consider:

• Making vaccination a part of worksite wellness programmes whereby staff can be vaccinated at an onsite clinic provided by their employers
• How employers can provide supplementary support in tackling COVID-19 transmission, alongside the vaccine, through educational material on preventative measures e.g. mask wearing, to promote long-term public health compliance

AI uses computer systems to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. This can be used to help detect and interpret patterns useful for managing emergencies. Explore with AI experts how AI may be used in COVID-19 mitigation, preparation, response and recovery:

• Mitigation: To recognize patterns in the environment to provide early warning e.g. data on compounding factors associated with COVID-19 infection such as urban poverty to provide information on potentially high risk areas
• Preparation: To analyse patterns in natural and social phenomena e.g. impacts of natural disasters on hospital capacity during COVID-19. Run emergency simulations to mathematically model detailed emergency management plans to account for compounding disasters during the pandemic
• Response and Recovery: To evaluate situational information from social media, and surveillance cameras to determine where response is needed, and to support coordination of recovery activities e.g. drones can be used to transport PPE, using online information developed by mapping COVID hotspots. In the UK, Windracers (a humanitarian aid transportation company) used delivery drones to fly four times a day to the Isle of Wight, taking just 10 minutes to deliver PPE

Vaccines are highly perishable and must be kept at very cold, specific temperatures. The majority of COVID-19 vaccines under development will spoil, and need to be discarded, if they are not kept at the right temperature. National and local governments, alongside health systems and the private sector, need to imminently consider their cold chains to avoid unnecessary spoiling of vaccines. The cold chain is a supply chain that can keep vaccines in tightly controlled temperatures from the moment they are made to the moment that they are administered to a person. Preparing the cold chain may take months, so investments into planning and resources now can help expand and support the current vaccine cold chain so it is ready and able to meet the scale of the mass vaccination programmes required. To prepare/scale up the cold chain consider:

• Where vaccines will be produced and transported, and the requirements for transportation including planes and trucks within countries and for distribution abroad
• There are a number of vaccines under development, many of which require different temperatures and handling procedures. Which will be approved first is unknown, therefore to prepare staff when one is approved staff in the cold chain should be trained to handle all possible vaccines to save time and avoid spoilage
• The frequency of deliveries that may be needed to facilities where dispensing will take place. This depends on the refrigeration capacity of health care organizations and hospitals, staffing resources, the locations the vaccines, and the shelf life of the vaccine
• How to expand shipping and storage capacity, including the specialised equipment needed to store vaccines at certain temperatures. Encourage airports and logistics companies to evaluate how well they could meet cold chain requirements

AI uses computer systems to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. This can be used to help detect and interpret patterns useful for managing emergencies. Explore with AI experts how AI may be used in COVID-19 mitigation, preparation, response and recovery:

• Mitigation: To recognize patterns in the environment to provide early warning e.g. data on compounding factors associated with COVID-19 infection such as urban poverty to provide information on potentially high risk areas
• Preparation: To analyse patterns in natural and social phenomena, and run emergency simulations to develop detailed emergency management plans
• Response and Recovery: To sort situational information from social media, and surveillance cameras (fixed, drones, satellites) to determine where response is needed, and to support coordination of recovery activities

Testing is considered critical to managing COVID-19, and mitigating the risk of diagnostic-supply shortages can help contain the virus and support efforts to scale testing. Diagnostic testing can confirm or determine the presence of disease in an individual suspected of having a disease. Continuing to identify those who are infected with COVID-19 remains important to treat and isolate them, and to enhance knowledge of the disease. Consider how to:

• Map available laboratory-testing capacity which can be underutilized e.g. laboratories around the USA have reported unused capacity which could be used to conduct more tests
• Maximize existing laboratory capacity by assessing: workflows; number of trained and personnel; compile a full inventory of equipment
• Partner with Universities and major diagnostic manufacturers e.g. to share equipment, research facilities, and trained personnel
• Using less resources through pooled testing of people for COVID-19 (The Manchester Briefing Week 17)

Wastewater-based epidemiology groups in Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA have already reported detecting traces of COVID-19 in wastewater. Although COVID-19 is not known to infect humans through sewage or wastewater, similar diseases can, and so monitoring the behaviour of COVID-19 in these environments is important. Consider integrating sewer surveillance and wastewater inspections into systems for COVID-19 monitoring:

• Develop a 'dashboard' of data to assess the correlations between all collated COVD-19-related indicators as seen in the Netherlands
• Provide information on potential transmission pathways and improve the early warning of new outbreaks by understanding the relationships between: wastewater analysis, the number registered infected people, and societal or behavioural traits

The transfer of diseases such as COVID-19, avian influenza and swine flu can occur in agriculture and food production sectors. This can be facilitated by the rapid industrialization of meat production and poor biosecurity. Consider:

• increased monitoring of agricultural production as 'big farms create big flu'
• careful monitoring of wild animal sales; simply banning such practices may only drive markets underground and reduce visibility
• disease mitigation measures on farming practices of vulnerable populations. In the avian influenza outbreak, poultry from 'backyard chicken' producers were slaughtered compulsorily in huge numbers which caused devastating impacts on livelihoods across southeast Asia
• affordable measures for smaller farmers to meet food and agricultural standards, and consideration that if you remove their livelihoods, they will likely become more susceptible to current disease or new zoonotic diseases as a result of wild animal sale or consumption

Spontaneous supply chains (SSC) emerge during a crisis to meet unmet demand. They may fill a gap locally or nationally i.e. transformation in manufacturing and production. In the USA, Amish communities have shifted their production from woodwork and carpentry organised by men, to the production of facemasks by women. Women were sewing up to 50,000 face masks per day that met hospital sanctioned quality control. Consider:

• How SSC can be integrated into formal supply chains to ensure quality and efficiency
• How SSC can be integrated into local government efforts. Many SSCs are locally driven and so integration into existing local supply chains would increase their efficiency and effectiveness
• How to build firm-frim relations to support SSC integration e.g. building trust, developing contracts, designing management systems
• Opportunities for staying connected to local communities that have capacity to support

This should include people who are part of the wider working society e.g. municipal waste workers, those involved in food production and distribution, as well as the more obvious workers (health related and response). This would support both the reopening of key services and the economy.

Reference: Chief Resilience Officer, USA

Hacking may have a cascading effect, for example, a cyber-attack on a trucking company could impact food security. The disruption could affect weekly food deliveries to supermarkets. In turn, the loss of revenue would weaken the business sustainability of distributors and producers.

Risks include:

• Hackers crashing Zoom meetings, disrupting conversations of government officials who conduct remote discussions (USA)
• False emails from the US Department of Health and Human Services are targeting supplier companies. They request protective equipment described in an attachment infected with malware. (USA)
• A cyberattack on Italy's social security system (INPS) has revealed Personally Identifiable Information to applicants as they were attempting to claim benefits (Italy)

Reference: Chief Resilience Officer, USA

Local government should continue moving their services to online delivery where possible to help those who are working from home, by strengthening digital infrastructure, network coverage in their areas and should consider developing cyber security campaigns. Out city "is trying to design a new digital routine, shaping work, events, meetings and initiatives on new online formats" for foreseeable future.

Reference: Chief Resilience Officer, Italy; and the American Red Cross, USA

Local government should identify where to source, pre-position and warehouse resources for disasters that may happen during the response and recovery to Covid-19. This will seek to mitigate the cascading impacts of simultaneous events e.g. PPE and other resources needed if homes flood and people are to be evacuated from their homes and temporarily housed.

Reference: American Red Cross

Local government should coordinate procurement between government and voluntary sector to anticipate the long-term provision of services i.e. foodbanks (in US Feeding America had their orders cancelled by suppliers as government bought stocks).

Reference: Feeding America, USA