The White House released an updated National Biodefense Strategy last week, replacing the 2018 edition and identifying actions that the federal government as well as state and local entities, industry, and others should take to fulfill the vision of a world free of catastrophic biological incidents.

The Strategy includes an implementation plan that outlines steps intended to support five goals, which focus on improving risk awareness and detection, having capabilities to prevent incidents, being prepared to reduce the impacts of incidents, rapidly responding to limit the impacts of incidents, and facilitating recoveries after an incident. Wastewater utilities are identified as having a role with the first goal, conducting surveillance to detect the presence of diseases in a community, as many have done during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had a significant influence on the updated Strategy, which notes, “The COVID-19 response has illuminated both longstanding and newly discovered limitations in local, national, and international biodefense capabilities.” In addition to COVID-19, the White House also points out that the global community is also contending with outbreaks of monkeypox, polio, Ebola, and other diseases. And there’s also the risk of weaponization of biological risks. While the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly not at its height and is no longer causing the societal disruptions on society – including critical infrastructure – that it once did, the Strategy reminds the nation “biological threats – whether naturally occurring, accidental, or deliberate in origin – are among the most serious threats facing the United States and the international community.” Access the Strategy and the Fact Sheet at the White House.