Federal, State and local agencies regularly use exercises to prepare for natural disasters including pandemics. In 2019, many of these entities and private sector partners participated in the scenario Crimson Contagion, which was meant to test how the U.S. government would respond to a novel influenza pandemic spreading through the U.S.

Sound familiar?

On this episode of CNA Talks, Chris Emory, the Bureau Chief of Health Emergency Management within in the New Mexico Department of Health, and Cynthia Holmes who served as the coordinator for New Mexico’s Joint Information Center for the first 200 of the COVID response join CNA analysts Dawn Thomas and Eric Trabert. They discuss how lessons learned from Crimson Contagion shaped New Mexico’s response to COVID-19.

Dawn Thomas is the co-director of CNA’s Center for Emergency Management Operations. Dawn has written, executed and evaluated more than 60 exercises, in the fields of health and medical operations, animal disease and public health.

Eric Trabert is the Director of CNA’s Center for Public Health Preparedness and Resilience. He has evaluated the public health responses to more than a dozen emergencies, including the 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Chris Emory is the Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Health Emergency Management within the New Mexico Department of Health.

Cynthia Holmes is currently an instructor with NCBRT out of Louisiana State University. Before this position, she served as the training and exercise manager for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. During this time, she served as the coordinator for the Joint Information Center for the first 200 days of the COVID Response.