Report: Ohio ranks near the bottom for public health preparedness

A new national report found that Ohio ranked as one the least-prepared states for future public health emergencies (Source: “Report: Ohio Lags in Public Health Preparedness,” Spectrum News, March 10).

According to Trust for America’s Health’s new report, “Ready or Not,” Ohio is in the lowest preparedness tier, in part, because Ohio ranks the lowest in the percentage of hospitals in healthcare coalitions that focus on response preparedness.

The report indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that many states were not prepared for a public health crisis. “We weren’t as prepared as we should have been for a pandemic,” the group’s policy director, Rhea Farberman, said. “That’s something that the public health experts have been warning us about for decades.”   

According to data from HPIO’s 2019 Health Value Dashboard, Ohio ranked 48^th out of the 50 states and D.C. in per capita emergency preparedness funding and 45^th out of 50 in state public health workforce.