Thread by @celinegounder

1/ "As we have said, this [COVID] is very heterogeneous across the country, and these decisions have to be made at the local level." —@CDCDirector @RWalensky

2/ "If you have areas of low vaccination & high case rates...local policymakers might consider whether masking...would be helpful for their community until they scale up their vaccination rates..." —@CDCDirector @RWalensky

3/ This speaks to our broken federalist approach to public health:
- technical guidance from the @CDCgov that needs to be interpreted locally
BUT
- no real power or $$$ at state/local level

continued...

4/ continued...

- increasing restrictions on public health emergency powers mlive.com/politics/2021/…
- state/local public health officials under attack
tennessean.com/story/news/hea…
justhumanproductions.org/podcasts/s1-e4…

5/ Peter Sandman for @statnews statnews.com/2021/07/16/sin…

6/ Peter Sandman for @statnews

7/ If state/local health departments are going to be responsible for formulating and implementing policies based on science but tailored for their communities, they need to have the $$, people, and power to do so. BUT THEY DON'T.

8/ Imagine if we were under attack by Russia or China... and each town or county or state had to muster its own defense against that outside threat.

THAT'S the state of public health in this country.

justsecurity.org/77442/new-legi…