Chicago
- Population: 2,696,555
- Local Health Departments: N/A
- Frequent Public Health Emergencies: Extreme Heat, Flooding, Extreme Cold
- Key Emergency Operations Center Activations:
2020 – COVID-19 Pandemic - CDC PHEP Funding:
FY 2022: $10,207,392
FY 2021: $10,070,627
FY 2020: $9,651,560 - Public Health Crisis Response Funding:
Mpox 2023 Funding: $1,057,858
Mpox 2022 Funding: $603,368
COVID-19 2021 Funding: $16,756,027
COVID-19 2020 Funding: $12,205,759
- Epidemiologists: 4
- Planners: 8
- Other: 23*
*Includes IT specialists, administrative staff, statisticians, and other positions
- 1 Career Epidemiology Field Officer
- 1 Preparedness Field Assignee
- Medical Materiel Management and Distribution
- Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation
- Emergency Operations Coordination
- Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration
- Information Sharing
In Chicago, PHEP developed guidance for first responders to ensure their safety during an emergency. In February 2018, while investigating an incident at an apartment complex, the Chicago Fire Department discovered suspicious laboratory supplies along with samples labeled “Ebola virus.” Because Ebola is a deadly and contagious disease, PHEP-funded staff led an urgent, coordinated response with state, local, and private partners. In less than six hours, they collected and tested 49 samples and confirmed there was no threat of Ebola. Had there been actual Ebola virus among the samples, following the strict guidance developed under PHEP would have kept responders safe from accidental infection.
During 2016, about 1.7 million people from countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere with active Zika transmission passed through Chicago’s airports. Because of this large number of travelers, the Chicago Department of Public Health has handled more than 2,400 individual Zika testing requests since January 2016. Public health Zika testing is performed at the Illinois Department of Public Health laboratory in Chicago. PHEP funding supported Zika media campaigns targeting both the public and healthcare providers, as well as a CDC Career Epidemiology Field Officer (CEFO), who serves as the city health department’s Zika response coordinator.