National Disaster Medical System in the context of "Public health emergency (United States)"

In the United States, a public health emergency declaration releases resources meant to handle an actual or potential public health crisis. Recent examples include:

• Incidents of flooding
• Severe weather
• the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano described as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."
• the COVID-19 pandemic
• the 2022 monkeypox outbreak

The National Disaster Medical System Federal Partners Memorandum of Agreement defines a public health emergency as "an emergency need for health care [medical] services to respond to a disaster, significant outbreak of an infectious disease, bioterrorist attack or other significant or catastrophic event." In order to activate the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), "a public health emergency may include but is not limited to, public health emergencies declared by the Secretary of HHS [Health and Human Services] under 42 U.S.C. 247d, or a declaration of a major disaster or emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), 42 U.S.C. 5121-5206)."