AUTHOR=Wei Changwei , Wang Juan , Wu Huangyue , Xu Zuying , Zhang Jiahao 

TITLE=The dynamic capabilities of county-level government in China during the outbreak of large-scale epidemics: a study based on three cases

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1562915

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2025.1562915

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=BackgroundAfter China entered the stage of normalized epidemic prevention and control, county-level government became the leading force and responsible body for prevention and control. In some counties, the epidemic was initially sporadic but later evolved into large-scale transmission. This situation posed a severe challenge to their dynamic capabilities. The dynamic capacity of county-level government largely determines the effectiveness of dealing with large-scale epidemics.MethodsThis study selected three counties with a large-scale outbreak of COVID-19 in 2022 as samples for multi-case analysis, and used insight ability, integration ability, learning ability and innovation ability as dimensions for comparative analysis. Data and information were collected from the official websites of these three county-level governments using the octopus collector.ResultsThe dynamic capabilities of county-level government are related to the results of large-scale epidemic prevention and control. This topic has been less explored in existing research. Compared to Si County and Linshui County, Jiutai District clearly lacks dynamic capabilities in large-scale epidemic prevention and control. The different abilities of county-level government play different roles in epidemic prevention and control.ConclusionCounty-level government are at the weakest stress point in the hierarchical structure of China's power system. They are at the forefront of public crisis management playing an important role, which further increase their pressure. Enhancing the dynamic capabilities of county-level government can greatly help them effectively respond to crises and alleviate their vulnerability.