Keep politics, conspiracies and misinformation out of Idaho’s public health districts
Ada County commissioners soon will appoint a physician to the Central District Health board.
Given the commissioners’ previous appointment of Raúl Labrador to the board and the disgraceful termination of Dr. Ted Epperly, we are concerned that commissioners Rod Beck and Ryan Davidson will make another political appointment that could jeopardize public health.
“Not only did Central District Health fail the greatest moral test of a generation, they also failed the scientific test, as none of the doomsday predictions ever came true,” Davidson said in a written statement about terminating Epperly, who was dismissed via email.
Despite Davidson’s characterization, health board members last year rose to that moral challenge and, despite an angry mob of protesters threatening them, made the right decisions to mandate masks and limit crowd sizes, among other measures to protect public health and prevent our health care system from overloading during the coronavirus pandemic.
Davidson’s statement that doomsday predictions never came true only illustrates how delusional some on the far right have become, ignoring the deaths of more than 600,000 Americans. In Idaho, nearly 200,000 people contracted COVID-19, and more than 2,000 people died in connection with it. Idaho’s health care system came dangerously close to crisis standards of care, and the Central District Health board members did their level best to prevent a catastrophe.
Maybe that’s not “doomsday,” but doomsday is what would have happened had there been no action taken, no shutdowns, no public health mandates, no attention paid to science. Davidson is just wrong on every count.
It’s concerning, to say the least, to remove Epperly from the board.
Epperly spent 15 years with the health district. He is the president and CEO of Family Medicine Residency of Idaho and is a retired U.S. Army colonel. He was the past president and board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians and is the co-chairman of the board for the Healthcare Transformation Council of Idaho.
His qualifications are beyond reproach, and for him to be dismissed simply because he favored a mask mandate is preposterous.
Beck said in a written statement that “the Central District Health board would now be best served by someone with a different perspective who represents the community.”
We’re not sure what that’s supposed to be code for, but from our perspective, Epperly did represent the community.
Those who have put their name in the hat to be on the board offer a wide range of competencies and opinions about health care.
Dr. Sky Blue, who was previously nominated to the board, appears to be highly qualified, but Beck and Davidson previously shot him down in favor of Labrador, not a good sign.
Some of the candidates espouse conspiracy theories about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA, as well as misinformation about vaccines, according to reporting by the Idaho Capital Sun.
It’s important that county commissioners don’t politicize the health board. Public health decisions should be made based on science, facts and guidance from the medical community, not a YouTube video.
If the health board strays from its mission of public health and simply becomes a political tool, will we see those “Employees must wash hands” signs disappear from restaurants and coffee shops all over the Treasure Valley? How will a politicized health board handle a hepatitis A outbreak at a local diner? With the wrong mix on the public health board, we could see even fewer people getting vaccinated — not just for COVID-19, but for simple things like measles, rubella or the flu.
We urge commissioners to put politics aside and do the right thing by appointing a health board member with the credentials and background to execute the most basic duty: keeping the public safe.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 12:38 PM.
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