A national catastrophe

In the NYT,Mike Baker and Danielle Ivory offer an in-depth report on how the insane right-wing response to the Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the nation ' s public health infrastructure. You really need to use one of your free reads on this, it ' s too much to summarize. But the keystone is this:When the pandemic first hit the northern edge of Washington ’s Olympic Peninsula, Dr. Berry was a popular family physician and local health officer, trained in biostatistics and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. She processed Covid-19 test kits in her garage and delivered supplies to people in quarantine, leading a mobilization that kept her co unties with some of the fewest deaths in the nation.But this summer, as a Delta variant wave pushed case numbers to alarming levels, Dr. Berryannounced a mask mandate. In September, she ordered vaccination requirements for indoor dining.By then, to many in the community, the enemy was not the virus. It was her.Dr. Berry should be attacked “on sight,” one resident wrote online. Someone else suggested bringing back public hangings. “Dr. Berry, we are coming for you,” a man warned at a public meeting. An angry crowd swarmed into the courthouse during a briefing on the Covid-19 response one day, looking for her, and protester s also showed up at her house, until they learned that Dr. Berry was no longer living there. This has been going on all over the country, and the result is that public health officials are quitting thei...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs