Vanguard Magazine

Photo: DND www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2020 31 COVID-19 these new areas. Abandoned public spaces like deserted airports, and grounded air- craft are less likely to be targets of terror- ism at the moment. However, the now to- tal dependency on supply lines, including rail and sea invites closer attention to the safety and operations of those networks. Much like a natural disaster, it is crucial in a pandemic for governments to have a clear sense of knowing who will do what, when, and with what resources. Broadly speaking, the World Health Organiza- tion's pandemic preparedness guidelines loosely mirror that of natural disaster management in terms of developing 1) preparedness; 2) response; and 3) recov- ery strategies. According to the WHO, within pandemic management, the stage of developing a "concept of operations" is essential in "establishing the roles, re- sponsibilities and how organizations will work together and coordinate national subnational and local levels of pandemic response". The challenges of coordinating resources raise the question as to whether militaries should have a greater role in re- sponding to pandemics in a similar way to that of natural disasters. Strong arguments exist both for, and against, tasking military resources with pandemic response man- agement. As Molina et al. (2010) argue, the military "roles during pandemic outbreaks could include: taking national and regional com- mand of the event, assigning workforce for essential civilian missions, use of logistic and military resources, maintaining public order and implementing public health measures such as isolation and quarantine". Such du- ties come with both serious pros and cons. One of the military's greatest strengths is the mobilization of massive quantities of re- sources, both human and material, quickly and across great distances. However, this assumes that resources are in place for such mobilization. The lack of Personal Protec- tive Equipment (PPE) during the CO- VID-19 pandemic presented an enormous challenge to government procurement to which national and regional health authori- COOperatIOn ties had to seek dedicated manufacturing facilities abroad to supply depleting stocks. A greater challenge is mustering human re- sources for health. Already, the Canadian military struggled to fill its compliment of medical service providers. In 2007, Canada, some 63,500 military personnel have their own medical needs met by roughly 540 civilian professionals, including doctors, nurses, and mental health workers. Consid- ering that the military relies on the service of civilian contractors for health needs, and considering the PPE shortfalls during CO- VID-19, it is erroneous to assume that mili- tary services can simply "show up" and set up hospitals easily. This is in part why the cons of total military-led emergency management in pandemics outweigh the pros. Taking command of an area and reassigning civil- ian workforces, resources and governance can be enormously disruptive, and it may not guarantee any better access to hu- man and material health resources during a crisis. During times of crisis, it is better to enhance and strengthen existing com- munity networks, especially for shelter in place orders, and to ensure long-term social distancing. The coordination of existing supply lines, community-based networks, transportation services and civil

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