Several health officials and governors in the country are now restricted from issuing protective health measures or must seek permission from state legislatures before renewing emergency orders. COVID lawsuits weaken public health and pandemic readiness:
When the next pandemic sweeps the United States, health officials in Ohio won't be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks. Nor will they be empowered to force Ohioans who have been exposed to go into quarantine. State officials in North Dakota are barred from directing people to wear masks to slow the spread. Not even the president can force federal agencies to issue vaccine or testing mandates to thwart its march.
Health officials and governors in more than half the country are now restricted from issuing mask mandates, school closures, and other protective measures or must seek permission from their state legislatures before renewing emergency orders, the analysis showed. Those seeking to dismantle public health powers say they're fighting back against an intrusion on their rights by unelected bureaucrats who overstepped amid a national crisis.
"We deserve to have that backlash to some extent," said Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald Trump, citing early CDC stumbles. These "big court wins" ensure that the next time there is a pandemic, the country will not be able to respond as it had in 2020 with government overreach, said Peter Bisbee, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
In Wisconsin, the constant threat of lawsuits by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has made officials wary of acting quickly to address any public health threat, said Kirsten Johnson, the former health commissioner of Milwaukee who is now the state's health secretary. "Masking requirements, vaccine requirements, school closures are completely off the table without new legislation," Fallone said.
"You have to narrowly define the authorities of the governor and make it very clear to society and to the courts that certain things are to be protected, such as individual and constitutional liberties," said Jonathon Hauenschild, who had worked on model legislation for ALEC, according to a video recording of the July 2020 forum.
Now, a gun store owner who gained local infamy for banning anyone from wearing masks in his store says he is campaigning for an elected spot on the health board so he can fire Vollmar and gut the department.
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