Republican bid to limit health officials could cause ‘preventable tragedies’ – experts

At least nine states have considered emergency power limitation' legislation proposed by conservative organization Alec

Republican lawmakers across more than a dozen states are working to limit the powers of local health departments in ways experts say is likely to lead to preventable tragedies" during disease outbreaks, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

The attempts to limit the emergency powers of public health agencies comes alongside harassment of individual public health workers, renewed concern about the spread of the highly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant, and a flagging US vaccination campaign.