Majority of U.S. States are Unprepared for an Outbreak, Study Says

The majority of states in the U.S. are not prepared to deal with an outbreak, a new study found.

In this study, the researchers assessed a state's ability to respond to a disease outbreak via 10 indicators, which included vaccination numbers, food safety, response and more.

The states that received the top scores with eight out of the 10 factors were Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, New York and Virginia. After these states, at seven out of 10, were Alaska, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nebraska.

The state with the lowest score of a two out of 10 was Oklahoma, which was followed by Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Utah, who all got a three out of 10. Overall, the researchers found that 28 states and Washington D.C. would not be able to effectively deal with an outbreak. All of these states have a score of five or below.

The researchers found that preparedness did increase when there was a clear threat, but noted that states should be ready regardless of whether or not there is an impending problem.

They stressed the importance of improving measures within these states and added that the U.S. in general has to work on preventing new threats from becoming potentially huge problems within the country. The researchers mentioned the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) as well as antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

"The overuse of antibiotics and underuse of vaccinations, along with unstable and insufficient funding have left major gaps in our country's ability to prepare for infectious disease threats," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) reported in the press release. "We cannot afford to continue to be complacent. Infectious diseases -- which are largely preventable -- disrupt the lives of millions of Americans and contribute to billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs each year."

Paul Kuehnert, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation director, added, "America's investments in infectious disease prevention ebb and flow, leaving our nation challenged to sufficiently address persistent problems. We need to reboot our approach so we support the health of every community by being ready when new infectious threats emerge."

The study's findings were released by the TFAH and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.