As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, local emergency management agencies continue to gather data to keep residents as safe as possible. Jeff Anderson is the president of the Iowa Emergency Management Association, and says that at both a county and state level, Emergency Management will be better prepared for what is next as the landscape evolves.

“The information through the COVID-19 event has changed so frequently. It makes it very difficult to stay up to speed with what’s current. I’m not a big prognosticator, but regardless of what it does, we’re going to have to deal with it. What we’re doing in the office is trying to take from those lessons learned from March, April, May and June, and apply them as we look forward to what we could see in the fall.”

Anderson adds that the biggest challenges in navigating the pandemic have been the constant rate at which information changes, as well as differing opinions among leaders on how to proceed. Anderson commended the efforts of the Governor’s Office, saying that Iowans will be better off in the long run as a result.