The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the impact of chronic underfunding of America’s public health and emergency preparedness systems. More than 56,000 local public health jobs were eliminated between 2008 and 2017 — nearly one-quarter of the workforce. And in 2018, the White House Office of Global Pandemics was eliminated, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19. This chronic under funding has real consequences, as we’ve learned as health departments struggled to respond to the biggest public health crisis in a century with outdated technologies and inadequate staffing levels. Building and maintaining a public health system capable of effectively protecting and promoting health requires a significant increase in funding. This would be a wise investment considering the much higher costs of responding to uncontrolled epidemics.
