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Objectives: To describe results of points of dispensing (POD) medical countermeasure drill performance among local jurisdictions., Methods: To compare POD setup times for each year, we calculated descriptive statistics of annual jurisdictional POD setup data submitted by over 400 local jurisdictions across 50 states and 8 US territories to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program monitoring database from July 2012 to June 2016., Results: In data collected from July 2012 to June 2015, fewer than 5% of PODs required more than 240 minutes to set up, although the proportion increased from July 2015 to June 2016 to almost 12%. From July 2012 to June 2016, more than 60% of PODs were set up in less than 90 minutes, with 60 minutes as the median setup time during the period., Conclusions: Our results yield evidence of national progress for response to a mass medical emergency. Technical assistance may be required to aid certain jurisdictions for improvement. Public Health Implications. The results of this study may inform future target times for performance on POD setup activities and highlight jurisdictions in need of technical assistance.

The unique characteristics of children dictate the need for school-based all-hazards response plans during natural disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and terrorism (1-3). Schools are a critical community institution serving a vulnerable population that must be accounted for in public health preparedness plans; prepared schools are adopting policies and plans for crisis preparedness, response, and recovery (2-4). The importance of having such plans in place is underscored by the development of a new Healthy People 2020 objective (PREP-5) to "increase the percentage of school districts that require schools to include specific topics in their crisis preparedness, response, and recovery plans" (5). Because decisions about such plans are usually made at the school district level, it is important to examine district-level policies and practices. Although previous reports have provided national estimates of the percentage of districts with policies and practices in place (6), these estimates have not been analyzed by U.S. Census region* and urbanicity.(†) Using data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS), this report examines policies and practices related to school district preparedness, response, and recovery. In general, districts in the Midwest were less likely to require schools to include specific topics in their crisis preparedness plans than districts in the Northeast and South. Urban districts tended to be more likely than nonurban districts to require specific topics in school preparedness plans. Southern districts tended to be more likely than districts in other regions to engage with partners when developing plans. No differences in district collaboration (with the exception of local fire department engagement) were observed by level of urbanicity. School-based preparedness planning needs to be coordinated with interdisciplinary community partners to achieve Healthy People 2020 PREP-5 objectives for this vulnerable population.