STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A New York City initiative announced Tuesday will seek to learn from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in an effort to prepare for the next crisis.
From infectious diseases to climate-related events, the Pandemic Response Institute will try to improve the city’s emergency preparedness through public-private partnership, according to a media release from the office of Mayor Eric Adams.
“We can’t wait for the next COVID-19 to arrive to look for downstream responses — we have urgent public health crises in our city, and we need to proactively face them with upstream solutions,” Adams said.
“The Pandemic Response Institute will bring together city agencies, experts across various fields, and nonprofit and for-profit partners to tackle some of the biggest, most intractable public health challenges for New Yorkers.”
The Institute will work with neighborhoods across the five boroughs to tailor their responses to future crises in coordination with the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York City Emergency Management.
City officials selected Columbia University and its partner, the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy for $20 million in capital funding to help launch the project.
“The mission of the Pandemic Response Institute is to work with academic, community, government and business partners across the five boroughs to make sure that the city is prepared for future public health emergencies,” Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger said.
“Its goal is to do this in a way that addresses the structural inequities that make marginalized populations particularly vulnerable to the effects of these kinds of crises.”