3 Uses for ZIP Codes to Stay Informed

A person takes mail from mailbox.

July 1 is U.S. ZIP Code Day.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS)—then called the U.S. Post Office Department—introduced the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) code in 1963. USPS’ purpose was to facilitate the automatic sorting of mail and reduce the number of steps a piece of mail would go through to reach a recipient.(1)

Since then, USPS has created and deleted ZIP codes as needed. It expanded ZIP codes from 5 digits to 9 and then to 11.(1)

The meanings and utility of ZIP codes have changed too. Today, they have impact implications and uses beyond moving mail.

Your ZIP code can help you stay informed before and during emergencies, including disease outbreaks and natural disasters. Here are three examples of the kinds of information you can find using your ZIP code.

Your Hazards Riskmap

You can’t prepare for something if you don’t know it’s a threat. Part of staying informed is knowing about the hazards that can cause you harm and how to mitigate (or reduce) your risk. Your ZIP code can help you learn about hazards in your area.

The National Risk Index is an online mapping application from FEMA that is searchable by ZIP code. It was developed with local emergency planners in mind, but you too can use it to identify the hazards most likely to threaten your health and safety.

The Index uses data for natural hazards and community risk factors to develop a “baseline relative risk measurement” for each county and census area. It analyzes expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience to determine a community’s potential for negative impacts resulting from 18 natural hazards.(2) Hazards include earthquakes, heat waves, hurricanes, and wildfires.

Learn more about how the Index calculates risk.

The Nearest Vaccine Provider

As with other diseases, you are protected best from COVID-19 when you stay up to date with the recommended vaccine doses and boosters.(3)

Staying up to date means getting all doses in the primary series and all boosters recommended for you. CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older, and COVID-19 boosters for everyone ages 5 years and older, when eligible.(3)

COVID-19 vaccines are available at no cost.(4) Use your ZIP code to find COVID-19 vaccines and boosters near you. You can also text your ZIP code to 438829 for location information.

You can also use your ZIP code to find the nearest Test to Treat sites.  There are hundreds of locations nationwide where you can

  • get tested or bring your test results,
  • get a prescription from an on-site healthcare provider if you are at high risk of getting very sick, and
  • fill your prescription for an oral COVID-19 treatment.(5)

Learn more about the Test to Treat initiative, including what to bring with you when you go.

Your Local Forecast

The right message at the right time from the right person can save lives in times of crisis. Having multiple ways to receive those messages, including emergency alerts, can help you stay healthy and safe during an emergency.

Some of the most important kinds of emergency alerts are hazardous weather advisories, watches, and warnings. They are issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) when hazardous weather is happening, about to happen, or likely to happen.

There are two ways you can use your ZIP code to stay informed of weather advisories, watches, and warnings where you live:

  1. Enter your ZIP code on the NWS website to see a localized weather forecast.
  2. Search for your local NWS Weather Forecast Office on social media.

Take both actions to improve your odds of receiving the right message from the right source in enough time to take action.

Visit the Prepare Your Health website for more tips on how to stay informed before and during an emergency.

Resources

References

  1. https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-13-006_0.pdf
  2. https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/products-tools/national-risk-index
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/no-cost.html
  5. https://aspr.hhs.gov/TestToTreat/Pages/process.aspx

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.

More Than Meals: MOW Delivers Preparedness, Response Help

This student-authored post is published by CPR in partnership with Medill News Service and the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of CPR or CDC.

One sizzling day this summer, Mo Perry made what she thought would be a routine visit to her Meals on Wheels (MOW) client, Alvin.

Perry didn’t expect to find Alvin looking disoriented and his residence overheated. Alvin’s air conditioner was broken. And his visual impairment had made it difficult for him to call for help.

“In Alvin’s case, he’s really isolated,” Perry said. “If we hadn’t stopped by, it could have been a bad situation.”

Perry’s story is an example of how MOW volunteers deliver on the organization’s More Than a Meal motto. Food deliveries double as welfare checks.

Checking on older adults during emergencies is important because they are disproportionately affected by extreme weather, said Dr. Christine Kistler, a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina.

“Older adults tend to be the population that dies during snowstorms, heat waves, and natural disasters because they have less physiological reserve,” Kistler said. She explained that in addition to differences in their physiology, older adults are generally less aware of when they’re overheating or freezing and should seek out a supportive environment. Sometimes, they don’t know where to turn.

If a client doesn’t answer the door, MOW drivers follow an established protocol. First, they try to contact the client and then the client’s emergency contacts. If all else fails, they call first responders. “We don’t quit for the day until we know they are okay,” said Natalie Huggins, a MOW volunteer coordinator based in Richland, Washington.

Volunteers also use their visits with clients to help them prepare for and respond to emergencies. MOW chapters in the Pacific Northwest delivered fans during this summer’s extreme heat.

In Lee County, Florida, it’s not winter storms but hurricanes that worry MOW administrators. Rebecca Busby, Food Programs Manager at MOW of Lee County, said her chapter provided clients with shelf-stable food ahead of Hurricane Elsa in July 2021.

Older adults can face barriers to accessing emergency supplies on their own. Many older adults have mobility disabilities that make it difficult for them to run essential errands.

Older adults might not have the financial means to pay for unanticipated expenses, according to Janaira Quigley, a former program manager at MOW in San Diego. When clients are struggling to cover their living costs on a fixed income, emergency supplies can be a low priority. “Emergency preparedness, that’s way down on the list,” Quigley said. “They’re just trying to make ends meet.”

In addition to supplies, MOW volunteers their clients stay informed.

In Florida, volunteers ensured that their clients stayed up to date as Hurricane Elsa approached. Meals came with a flyer with information on what they need to prepare for, what they can do with their pets, and what they need to have on hand, said Rebecca Busby.

Information about COVID-19, including tips on how older adults can stay safe, was distributed nationally, according to Carter Florence, Senior Director of Strategy and Impact at MOW America.

“I think for seniors, information is important. They don’t hop online, and they don’t get text messages,” said Sarah Hall, Development Director of MOW in Spokane, Washington. “A big barrier is making sure that people stay in contact and not just assume that they know what’s going on.”

MOW is also an important source of information for first responders. Chapters in Florida help responders to identify people who are at increased risk of injury and death during emergencies like hurricanes.

As for Mo Perry in Minnesota, the experience of working with clients like Alvin proves the importance of community connections to building resilience. “I think of it sort of like roots underground that intermingle and hold the trees in place when the storms come,” she said.

 

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.

It’s National Radio Day, Over.

Hand turning knob on vintage radioAugust 20 is National Radio Day (#NationalRadioDay), an annual observance dedicated to the invention and history of radio.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The same could be said for radio. Radio was in its heyday and remains—more than a century later—an effective medium of mass communication.

For a long time, radio was a critical (and in some cases the only) medium for communicating to vulnerable and at-risk populations of people who lived in hard-to-reach places. It still is in many parts of the world.

In present-day Africa, radio is popular, in part, because it is readily available and easily accessible throughout the continent. For some people living in remote and rural communities, radio might be their only connection to the wider world.(1)

In addition to serving the everyday news and entertainment needs of listeners, radio is also a powerful tool for broadcasting crisis and risk communication during a natural disaster, disease outbreak, or other emergency.

Radio remains a useful communication tool, but it is also important to acknowledge that times have changed and—with it—technology and people’s preferences for how they receive news and information. Today, there are many ways to stay informed during an emergency.

Local TV & Radio

Emergency preparedness, response, and recovery begins and ends at the local level; so, it is only natural that you look to local television and radio for information in an emergency.

Local broadcasters help federal, state, and local officials keep communities informed in disasters and emergencies. Use of local television and radio to give people advanced notice of an event (e.g., severe weather) and communicate instructions (e.g., evacuation orders, road closures, and shelter information) can save lives.(2)

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is one way local broadcasters can help keep their communities informed in an emergency. EAS is a national public warning system commonly used to deliver important emergency information to affected communities over television and radio stations. EAS messages consist of an attention signal, audio announcement, and digitally encoded end-of-message marker delivered through local TV and radio.(3) Most EAS alerts are sent by the National Weather Service in response to severe weather events, but state, local, territorial, and tribal authorities also send alerts.

FEMA, in partnership with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and NOAA, is responsible for implementation, maintenance and operations of the EAS at the federal level.

Cellphones

Cellphones are in the hands, pockets, and bags of most individuals in the country. (4) They provide quick and invaluable access to news and entertainment and can be a lifeline during and after an emergency.

FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) allows public safety officials to leverage this lifeline. A component of IPAWS is the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) System. The WEA System relies on the pervasiveness of cellphones to keep people informed with emergency alerts that appear like text messages on compatible mobile phones. Authorized public safety officials use WEA System to send geographically targeted message to people who are in warning or affected areas. Alerts emit a loud, high-frequency sound or vibration meant to alert the smartphone owner to an emergency message.

Since 2012, the WEA has sent more than 49,000 emergency messages that have alerted users to weather emergencies, evacuation orders, and AMBER alerts. These messages are a critical resource and avenue for saving lives. (5) As of July 2020, the AMBER Alert Program has credited WEA messages with the successful recovery of 75 children.

WEAs are a free service that don’t require a subscription. To make sure it is turned on, you can search for “WEA” or “Emergency Alerts” in your settings or reach out to your cellphone carrier to make sure it is provided. You can opt out of alerts about imminent threats to safety or life and AMBER Alerts about missing children but cannot block emergency alerts issued by the President of the United States.

Social Media & the Internet

Seeking out sources of good information is part of smart preparation.

When there is a public health emergency, the information disseminated by reliable organizations and government sources can save lives. It is important to keep in mind that although there are many sources for good information, there are others that could be spreading false information whether intentional or unintentional.

A big part of staying informed in an emergency is knowing where to turn for timely, consistent, and reliable information. Here are some tips on how to do that.

  • Bookmark the websites and webpages of trusted sources of information.
  • Follow trusted sources on social media, including handles run by CDC, state and local public health departments, and your local National Weather Service Forecast Office on social media.
  • Beware of and help dispel rumors and misinformation, especially on social media. The administrators of some social media handles will take advantage of a disaster or emergencies to spread inaccurate information on social media. Look instead for posts from verified accounts, like those associated with your state and local health departments and emergency management agencies.

For many years, the radio was the best way to communicate and receive information, but times have changed and so has technology. Today we have faster forms of communication and the ability to respond quicker in emergency situations.

Related Reading

References

  1. https://www.undrr.org/news/radio-times-disaster
  2. https://www.fcc.gov/general/disaster-support-broadcasters
  3. https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/fema_emergency-alert-system_fact-sheet.pdf
  4. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
  5. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/wireless-emergency-alerts-wea

 

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that the CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.