How emergency declarations are helping governments respond to COVID-19

Ten US states are in states of emergency over COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that’s sickened over 110,000 people around the world and over 500 in the US. There’s an outbreak of the virus at a nursing facility in King County, Washington, and 18 people in the state have died. Dozens of counties have also declared emergencies, and the entire country has been under a federal public health emergency since the end of January.

Emergency declarations allow officials at the federal, state, and local levels to mobilize quickly and activate a menu of powers that they can use to respond to a crisis situation. “They allow expedited response efforts in ways that don’t circumvent constitutional protections,” says James Hodge,...

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