Intergovernmental Dimensions of the COVID-19 Responses and Consequences

The COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine federalism in action. With the goal of better understanding the strengths and vulnerabilities of the U.S. intergovernmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Academy of Public Administration convened the COVID-19 Working Group on the Intergovernmental Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Spring of 2021. The Working Group assessed those intergovernmental responses to identify key issues and develop actionable recommendations in four areas that may facilitate the nation’s response to this pandemic and future pandemics: testing for COVID-19; non-pharmaceutical interventions for infection risk reduction, vaccine distribution, and cross-cutting and over-arching issues. Overall, the Working Group’s report offers independent perspectives on how well the intergovernmental public health and human service systems and our decentralized and distributed governance structure protected and provided for the general welfare of the populace. From this examination, the members of the Working Group provide 37 recommendations that provide a starting point for evaluating the response to a major public health crisis and for improving responses to future pandemics.