Public health information in Idaho shouldn’t become politicized by political appointees

Central District Health board member Raúl Labrador wants board members to have more say over what information gets released by the Central District Health department’s staff of experts.

The concern stems from a news release sent July 27, “Central District Health supports updated CDC guidance for mask wearing.”

“Central District Health supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated guidance shared today (July 27, 2021) regarding wearing a mask when in an indoor public space where there are substantial or high levels of community transmission, regardless of vaccination status,” according to the release. “Universal indoor masking is recommended for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccine status or community transmission.”

During last week’s board meeting, Labrador said he was concerned about that release because it didn’t come from the board.

Labrador noted he didn’t “want to be overly prescriptive,” and indeed if you look at statements issued by public health districts, you’ll find releases about West Nile virus, rabid bats, excessive heat and algae blooms in reservoirs.

Surely, we don’t want health board members to debate every time the district recommends not swimming in a pond that has harmful bacteria, getting rid of standing water on your property, wearing insect repellent or drinking plenty of water when it’s hot outside.

Since a board meets only seven or eight times a year, that would also preclude the district from responding quickly to developing public health dangers, such as hepatitis outbreaks or the discovery of plague.

Such micromanagement would not be efficient or timely.

Having to get board approval for such guidance threatens to politicize recommendations, as we’ve seen, unfortunately, with masking and vaccinations.

The job of the professional staff members at Idaho’s public health districts is to inform the public about public health hazards and recommend what action to take.

Unfortunately, Central District Health has been co-opted to disrupt that mission all because of unsupported, unscientific — and yes, political — positions on how to handle COVID-19.

Some have argued against listening to experts, saying they’re not elected and they’re not accountable to the voters. It’s worth pointing out that Labrador isn’t an elected official accountable to the voters. You can’t vote him off the board. Similarly with Dr. Ryan Cole, another ill-advised political appointee to the board who has sown distrust of the vaccine and promoted unproven therapies against COVID-19.

But it’s less about being unelected and more about the health board becoming political — not about science.

Look no further than Labrador’s own comments at the board meeting. He supports vaccinations but then says masks have no science behind them. As a political appointee, he’s picking and choosing when to agree with and when to go against health and medical experts at CDH and at CDC.

He said the CDC “sometimes comes out with statements that are more politicized than science based.”

This is exactly why you don’t want board members — particularly unelected, politically appointed board members — overruling experts on public health matters.

There’s plenty of science behind the use of masks, and Labrador’s comments showed that he didn’t quite understand that masks help prevent the spread of the coronavirus to other people. Yes, it provides some protection to the person who is wearing the mask, but more importantly, wearing a mask helps prevent the spread to others.

Wearing a mask isn’t a punishment, and taking the mask off isn’t a reward for getting vaccinated.

As we’ve learned more about the virus, we’ve discovered, unfortunately, that even those who have been vaccinated can spread it to others. That’s why the recommendation is for masks even for those who are vaccinated. With so many people still unvaccinated, it’s important to limit the spread as much as possible to prevent overwhelming the health care system.

Let’s remember, too, that the health board was harangued and harassed so much last year by an angry vocal minority that they eschewed mandates in favor of mere advisories or recommendations, and then the state Legislature took away their teeth by making any countywide or districtwide mandate subject to the approval of county commissioners.

And we’re not even talking about mandates here. These are just guidelines, recommendations and information that’s being shared.

If CDH director Russ Duke and the rest of the staff have to weigh the political implications of giving public health guidance, it ceases to be health guidance.

At that point, we might as well just get rid of the entire public health system and let politicians make all of the public health decisions.

What could possibly go wrong?