Discussion for article #232955
In this case the concept of “states rights” is ludicrous. Obviously many state representatives are too bound to their partisan believes to make intelligent decisions on something that effects every American. (MONTANA comes to mind.)
Slightly off topic, but it’s times like this that I miss The Colbert Report.
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Maine’s efforts are likely to be fairly futile given the status of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has been without its two top epidemiologists for months – the top position has been vacant for almost a year; the position responsible for monitoring and responding to a hepatitis outbreak has been vacant for months, and 14 of the 50 public health nurse positions are vacant, leaving Maine “woefully unprepared to deal with an infectious disease outbreak”, including, in recent months, a case of hepatitis A in a restaurant in its most populous county. One of the problems in filling those positions is a culture at the Maine CDC that is said to be rife with “harassment, threats and poor management…Employees paint a picture of an ineffectual leader who lets upper management run wild. They tell of threats and intimidation, of screaming bosses, of demands that are, at best, unethical, and at worst, illegal. They talk of promotions for workers who don’t question the way things are run and intra-office spying on those who do. They call the CDC “The Third Reich,” “a reign of terror” and, plainly, “hell”, and the department is embroiled in a document shredding scandal.
At one point it appeared the State Epidemiologist position would be filled, but the person backed out, apparently in response to the Kaci Hickox Ebola quarantine debacle.
http://wabi.tv/2014/11/04/maine-cdc-fire-top-job-vacancies/
ETA: The Maine CDC is fairly illustrative of the entire Maine DHHS, which has been a never-ending snafu - from a public-health perspective - under LePlague and Mary Mayhew. From Koch/Heritage perspective it’s been a smashing success: many top staffers let go and replaced with workers much lower on the pay-scale (including the top programmers, which led to a huge Medicaid payment debalce, and, at a time of the greatest expansion in access to health care in more than 50 years LePlague has managed to significantly reduce the number of people on MaineCare (Medicaid).
I guess we need to bring back smallpox. Perhaps that will persuade.
A triumphant return by polio would be nice, too. That one’s especially delightful, since it most often strikes children.