RAPID: Collaborative Research: Local Government Response to COVID-19: Juneau, Alaska, a case study in adaptive governance, risk management, communication, and decision-making

为了预测COVID-19在阿拉斯加的传播，当地社区正在评估他们在紧急医疗设施、政策制定和预防性文化实践方面的应对能力。亚北极和北极地区的地方政府不堪重负，需要提供有关该病毒给广大地区带来的风险的信息。这个项目的重点是阿拉斯加朱诺的沿海社区。32,061)作为一个用例，用于审查在资源有限的偏远地区面对前所未有的病毒爆发时正式和非正式机构的反应和适应能力。项目小组研究决策者如何与包括土著社区在内的各种社会群体互动，以及他们如何在各种沟通策略中利用当地知识。这项研究实时跟踪响应，并确定哪些领域是有效的，哪些领域出现了阻碍有效协调的瓶颈。结果确定了大流行期间的经验教训，并为官方和社会团体如何在未来的危机中更好地合作提供指导。这项研究为小社区的灾害响应做出了几项具有广泛影响的基础科学贡献。首先，该项目提供了一个在基础设施和能力有限的偏远、孤立的阿拉斯加社区进行灾难响应的案例研究。其次，本研究实时检验了当前关于危机应对的知识，帮助我们识别现有适应性治理、复原力、地方自组织和灾难沟通理论中的弱点。最后，根据这项研究的结果，有可能为处境类似的孤立社区提供有效的危机应对模式。研究结果对其他北部社区以及该国其他孤立的偏远地区也有影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In anticipating the spread of COVID-19 in Alaska, local communities are assessing their response capacity in terms of emergency medical facilities, policymaking, and preventative cultural practices. Subarctic and Arctic local governments are overwhelmed with the need to provide information about the risks presented by the virus to a broad area. This project focuses on the coastal community of Juneau, Alaska (pop. 32,061) as a use case for examining formal and informal institutional responses and adaptive capacity in facing an unprecedented viral outbreak in isolated areas with limited resources. The project team examines how decisionmakers interact with various social groups, including Indigenous communities, and how they made use of local knowledge in a variety of communication strategies. This research tracks responses in real time and identifies areas where they were effective and where bottlenecks occurred that prevented effective coordination. The results identify lessons learned during the pandemic and provide guidance on how official and societal groups can better collaborate in future crises.This study makes several fundamental scientific contributions with broad impacts for disaster response in small communities. First, the project delivers a case study of a disaster response in a remote, isolated Alaskan community with limited infrastructure and capacity. Second, this study tests, in real time, current knowledge on crisis responses, helping us identify weaknesses in existing theories of adaptive governance, resilience, local self-organization, and disaster communication. Finally, drawing on the findings of the study make it possible to provide a model of effective crisis response for similarly situated isolated communities. The results have implications for other northern communities as well as other isolated, remote areas of the country.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.