Office of Readiness and Response

Keep schools, workplaces & communities safe from COVID-19. More information available at Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities.

Advancing the nation’s preparedness and response for
public health emergencies and threats.

Emergency
Operations

State and
Local Readiness

Regulatory Science
and Compliance

Emergency Preparedness and Response

Prep Your Health

Prepare Your Health encourages personal health preparedness for public health emergencies with practical advice on how to get ready and build resilience.

Prepare Your Health is organized into three categories: Take Action, Plan Ahead, and Create Community. Use the information on these webpages to help you prepare your family for disasters and public health emergencies.

Stories from the Field

CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement program is a critical source of funding, guidance, and technical assistance for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments to strengthen their public health preparedness capabilities.

Since 9/11, the PHEP program has saved lives by building and maintaining a nationwide public health emergency management system that enables communities to rapidly respond to public health threats.

Quick Links

Clinicians and Health Departments

COCA prepares clinicians to respond to emerging health threats and public health emergencies by communicating relevant, timely information related to disease outbreaks, disasters, terrorism events, and other health alerts.

CDC’s Health Alert Network (HAN) is CDC’s primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.