Conducting a full-scale emergency management exercise during COVID-19: A case study of Puyallup Chill Out 2021

The COVID-19 public health emergency severely limited the ability of emergency managers to conduct emergency exercises, particularly at the functional or full-scale level. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic response, other emergencies continued, and local emergency management was called to respond, ensuring that local guidelines and COVID-19 restrictions were observed. This paper describes how the pandemic impacted on the City of Puyallup's emergency management training and exercise programme and how the City adapted to conduct a full-scale exercise in the autumn of 2021. Multiple delays, planning partners overwhelmed by COVID-19, and emergencies that occurred prior to the exercise were all addressed and included in the exercise scenario. The City of Puyallup and its planning partners built in contingencies in the run-up to the exercise, all the way through to the day of exercise play. Providing a safe, realistic and timely opportunity for the City of Puyallup and partners to conduct the exercise has resulted in a far-reaching after-action report and improvement plan to guide the preparedness and planning efforts of the City and its partners.