The Washington Post whines that public health bureaucrats have been ‘defanged’
Zachary Faria
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Are you worried that governors won’t be able to act like dictators and unilaterally impose public health restrictions on their constituents? Are you terrified that unelected public health bureaucrats won’t be able to control every facet of your life the next time an illness makes the rounds?
You should be, according to the Washington Post.
WALENSKY TELLS CONGRESS CDC MASKING GUIDANCE FOR SCHOOLS ISN’T GOING AWAY
Health writers at the Washington Post on Wednesday bemoaned that “lawsuits and legislation have stripped public health officials of their powers in three years,” a move that would “hobble” future pandemic responses. In some states, health officials “won’t be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks.” They won’t be “empowered to force” people into quarantine. In many states, health officials and governors “are now restricted from issuing mask mandates, school closures, and other protective measures or must seek permission from their state legislatures before renewing emergency orders.” The public health system, they whine, has been “defanged.”
Um … yeah. Good! May it forever stay that way.
The Washington Post attempts to conflate the lives saved by vaccines with public health orders that saved zero lives, such as school closures and mask mandates. The fact is, they didn’t. The science has shown that mask mandates were ineffective and that school closures did nothing but ruin the social and academic development of children. These measures were imposed by governors who were blindly obeying the orders of public health bureaucrats, who in turn tended to ignore the trade-offs between public health and other societal priorities (you know — human happiness, childhood development, etc.). There was no way for people to hold those bureaucrats accountable, and as a result, legislatures took a back seat to governors acting on their own.
In case you need more context for the Washington Post’s doomsaying, the outlet is not just concerned about a hypothetical future pandemic. According to the outlet, the world is “staggering” into a “fourth year of COVID.” Ah, yes, according to the Washington Post, the pandemic is still an emergency, even though nearly everyone in America ditched the masks and returned to normal life two years ago when the first vaccines became available. The writers aren’t just upset about the loss of future public health dictatorships but also that many states can’t bring back the dictatorship right now.
The public health bureaucracy should have never had “fangs” to begin with. More politicians should have questioned their judgment sooner. Allowing bureaucrats to run wild during the pandemic was the biggest mistake most states made. School closures set children back permanently with no health benefit. Businesses closed their doors forever with no health benefit. The backlash is a much needed corrective.
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In the next pandemic, legislators will actually have to debate and legislate their states’ responses — heaven forbid! They will have to justify closing schools and forcing children to wear uncomfortable and ineffective masks.
The Washington Post, despite its self-righteous “Democracy Dies in Darkness” motto, is horrified at the thought of democracy deciding how government operates. Normal people should be relieved and pandemic authoritarianism should never be allowed to return.