Health agencies' funding cuts challenge coronavirus response

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is analysis, not LBN. It's from yesterday anyway.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Why aren't we ready for coronavirus? Politicians cut local health dept staffs by 1/4 since 2008 & federal funding by 30% since 2003. A hard look at America’s front-line defense against pandemic: the local health dept. by
@D_Hawk

@TheWanReport

Link to tweet

Health

Health agencies’ funding cuts challenge coronavirus response

By Derek Hawkins and William Wan
March 8, 2020 at 5:57 p.m. EDT

{snip}

When an outbreak hits, public health departments are America’s front line of defense. They investigate the infected and trace their contacts with other people, take passengers’ temperatures at the airport, harangue the public to wash their hands. They advise local leaders on whether to cancel school, and they find facilities to isolate the sick from the healthy.

In the unfolding war against the coronavirus, they are already hamstrung — decades of budget cuts have left many local departments without the staff, equipment or plans to mount an adequate response. Local health departments say they’re already pulling employees from critical efforts such as opioid abuse prevention. A sudden burst of new cases could force them to choose where to divert resources and possibly endanger the public, experts said.

{snip}

Local public health agencies have lost almost a quarter of their overall workforce since 2008 — a cut of almost 60,000 workers, according to national associations of health officials. The agencies’ main source for federal funding — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s emergency preparedness budget — has been cut 30 percent since 2003. And the Trump administration has proposed cutting even deeper.

“The biggest cuts came during the last recession, and while other parts of government were restored over time, public health never was,” said John Auerbach, who worked on health policy for Boston, the state of Massachusetts and the CDC. Instead, over the past decade, local health departments have seen annual rounds of cuts, punctuated with one-time splurges in the wake of crises like outbreaks of Zika, Ebola, measles and hepatitis. That short-term funding quickly dries up and does nothing to address the long-term problems of preparedness.

“One-time, emergency money is great, but it’s not how you hire the right people or get the right supplies for future crises,” said Auerbach, who now leads the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health. “A forest fire is not the right time to start hiring firemen and buying firetrucks and equipment. It’s too late.”

{snip}

Derek Hawkins
Derek Hawkins is a reporter covering national and breaking news. He previously covered cybersecurity for PowerPost and wrote about law, crime and politics for The Washington Post's Morning Mix. Follow https://twitter.com/d_hawk

William Wan
William Wan is a national correspondent covering health, science and news for The Washington Post. He previously served as the Post's China correspondent in Beijing, roving U.S. national correspondent, foreign policy reporter and religion reporter. Follow https://twitter.com/thewanreport

[Farmer-Rick]

1. Yeah, and the stock market agrees....it's too late

[SamKnause]

2. This country is prepared for one thing and one thing only, warmongering the world over.

The entire government caters to Wall Street, war contractors, lobbyists, and corporations. (60 corporations
now pay zero in taxes.)

They don't give a damn about us !!!

We are nothing but consumers to them.

[Tanuki]

3. Kicking. Important story.