Examining factors associated with emergency managers' collaborative planning with health departments prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic

We contribute to the growing body of research on COVID-19 and pandemic response by connecting two bodies of existing but disparate research. Specifically, we examine how professionalization in emergency management is associated with collaborative outcomes. Using three unique surveys of local emergency managers (EMs) and convergent mixed methods, we find that more appropriate types of professionalization are more strongly associated with collaborative planning outcomes. EMs who completed pandemic-related exercises were much more likely to report a collaborative plan with public health being in place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. These EMs were also potentially less negative in their opinions about collaboration. Other measures of professionalization were less strongly associated with collaborative planning outcomes. These results shed light on the importance of appropriate forms of professionalization in public and emergency management in improving collaboration and potential performance.