[EAS] Questionable EAS Activation

[Sean Donelan]

On Thu, 14 May 2020, Adrienne Abbott wrote:
> It's not an emergency but it's being issued as an EAS activation and now
> stations are asking why...what's an EAS Chair to do?

I was wondering if anyone was going to say something about that alert.  It 
didn't cause public reaction on the twitter, so I wasn't sure if it even 
got on the air.  The attached alert recording sounded like it was intended 
for a emergency telephone notification system.

What could SECC chair do?

Shoulder shrug; say all disasters are local; decisions are up to local 
officials based on their training and experience.  If someone asks what 
training or experience do local officials receive about public warning?

Watching IPAWS messages across the country, there have been several 
'questionable' uses of WEA/EAS during COVID-19. I haven't seen much in the 
way of review or sharing of lessons learned for COVID19 public warning 
practices around the country. FEMA put out some guidance about the 
difference between shelter-in-place (SPW) and stay-at-home (CEM) for EAS 
event codes.