Getting Started

Welcome to “Outbreak! Responding to an Influenza Pandemic,” an interactive media activity on federalism and public health from the perspective of a US governor.

To begin, please enter your name, and pick your political party. state you wish to lead.

Please provide your first name.
Please provide your last name.
Party (pick one):

Now, pick the state you wish to represent. Each state represents a vastly different constituency and situation, which will influence the challenges (and difficulty) of resolving the pandemic crisis. As a result, when you make policy choices and negotiate political bargains in this simulation, the consequences of those decisions will affect these characters—particularly their likelihood of re-election—in different ways.

See States' descriptions below

New York is the epicenter of the novel influenza outbreak, and has the most cases. As governor you must care for both rural and urban areas, which have distinct public health challenges, as well as New York City, one of the largest and most densely-populated urban areas in the world. This is the hardest state to lead during this crisis. While it has occasionally elected Republican governors, like Nelson Rockefeller and George Pataki, for most of the last two forty years, the state has been led by Democratic governors.
Michigan took early steps to control spread of the novel influenza virus, and as a result has a lower case load than many similar states. The state represents a challenge because of its mix of urban and rural areas, and because of the long-term economic devastation the state has experienced in cities like Flint and Detroit. While not as difficult as New York, resolving the crisis in Michigan won’t be easy. Michigan is a consummate swing state, with Republican and Democratic governors winning roughly equally over the last forty years.
Hawaii took early steps to contain the virus by closing the island to international travel, and travel to the US, but those steps have devastated the state’s economy, which is nearly entirely driven by tourism. While the very low case load and limited geography of the archipelago makes this the easiest state to manage in this crisis, the tourism-driven economy represents a unique challenge for safely reopening Hawaii’s shores. With only two Republican governors in its history as a state, Hawaii is solidly Democratic.
State (pick one):