The tragic April 19, 2015, death of an African American man injured while in police custody spurred several days of protest and civil unrest in Baltimore City. This article outlines the opportunity and role for a local health department during civil unrest, from the perspective of 2 emergency physicians who also led the Baltimore City Health Department through these recent events. Between April 27 and May 8, 2015, the Health Department was a lead agency in the unrest response and recovery activities. Similar to an emergency medical situation, a “public health code” is proposed as a model for centralizing, reacting to, and debriefing after situations of civil unrest. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:293–295)

The unanticipated global outbreak of Zika virus infection is the most current but certainly not the last emerging infectious disease challenge to confront the US public heath system. Despite a number of such threats in recent years, significant gaps remain in core areas of public health system readiness. Stable, sustained investments are required to establish a solid foundation for achieving necessary national public health emergency preparedness and response capacity. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:298–299)