ABSTRACT
Assaults on the public health can have catastrophic consequences and impact all sectors protected by homeland security policy and practice. The COVID-19 crisis manifests this very negative reality as it has topped over 700,000 dead in the United States alone. Vulnerability assessments help water systems evaluate susceptibility to potential threats and identify corrective actions that can reduce or mitigate the risk of serious consequences from adversarial actions. There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof. The challenges of assuring a safe environment in meat processing plants have been dramatically apparent in both the number of infections and the measures recommended to alter the spread.
