Urban pandemic response: Survey results describing the experiences from twenty-five cities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Since first being detected in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, COVID-19 has demanded a response from all levels of government. While the role of local governments in routine public health functions is well understood–and the response to the pandemic has highlighted the importance of involving local governments in the response to and management of large, multifaceted challenges–their role in pandemic response remains more undefined. Accordingly, to better understand how local governments in cities were involved in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a survey involving cities in the Partnership for Healthy Cities to: (i) understand which levels of government were responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed regarding select pandemic response activities; (ii) document when response activities were implemented; (iii) characterize how challenging response activities were; and (iv) query about future engagement in pandemic and epidemic preparedness. Twenty-five cities from around the world completed the survey and we used descriptive statistics to summarize the urban experience in pandemic response. Our results show that national authorities were responsible and accountable for a majority of the activities considered, but that local governments were also responsible and accountable for key activities–especially risk communication and coordinating with community-based organizations and civil society organizations. Further, most response activities were implemented after COVID-19 had been confirmed in a city, many pandemic response activities proved to be challenging for local authorities, and nearly all local authorities envisioned being more engaged in pandemic preparedness and response following the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive research represents an important contribution to an expanding evidence base focused on improving the response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future outbreaks.