Florida is a cautionary tale for America. Public health funding for contact tracers and nurses dropped precipitously, leaving it especially unprepared for the worst health crisis in a century.
#UnderfundedUnderThreat @AP/@KHNews http://apne.ws/nRqXqmU
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Health experts blame the Florida funding cuts on the Great Recession and choices by a series of governors who wanted to move publicly funded state services to for-profit companies.
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Even before the pandemic hit, that meant fewer disease investigators and public health nurses. When COVID-19 came, the state was caught flat-footed when it mattered most.
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Meanwhile, Floridians got mixed messages about masks from political leaders. Voices within health departments were muzzled. Confirmed cases soared past half a million, deaths to more than 10,000.
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“The reality, unfortunately, is people are going to die because of the irresponsibility of the decisions being made by the people crafting the budgets,” said Ron Bialek of
@ThePHF.Show this thread
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In the meantime my family there struggle to pay for meds at 84?
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