Public health

Axios - Instead of strengthening America's public health infrastructure, the pandemic experience spawned hundreds of new laws in at least 24 states limiting public health orders or otherwise undercutting emergency responses.  Republicans in Congress have also called for funding cuts to the CDC, and the Trump administration and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy are pivoting to chronic diseases, nutrition and nontraditional cures.

Public health experts say it's all left the system weaker and less prepared for everyday threats — let alone the next big crisis.

• "Imagine if we just had a major fire ripping through our city, and our first instinct once we finally put the flames out is to basically get rid of all of our fire departments," said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health.  "That is essentially what we're seeing happen here."

 Legislatures in mostly conservative states have been taking aim at public health powers for the past few years.

• In February, Louisiana's surgeon general canceled the promotion of all mass vaccination campaigns in the state.
• Montana barred employers from requiring vaccinations while Ohio law bans the state health department from issuing quarantines unless a person has been diagnosed with a disease.
• "The idea that you that you would completely eliminate flexibility to use tools like that without knowing what you're up against is bananas," said author and Stanford Law School professor Michelle Mello.  Read more