Many Americans hold several very dangerous thoughts:
#1. COVID was an isolated episode. It came out of the blue with an irrational, fear-driven response that never happened before.
#2. Thankfully, the emergency is over, our rights have been restored, and we can go back to our lives as usual.
Neither of these is true. Events similar to COVID but on a smaller scale have been taking place for decades, and it is almost certain that another such event will again take place soon.
The first broad powers granted by the federal government concerning public health was in 1944, with the Public Services Act, signed by President Roosevelt. This was not a new law but rather a “strengthening” of laws already passed by Congress.
The Act included a tuberculosis control program that provided federal grants to state health departments to eliminate tuberculosis. It significantly increased the budget for “disease eradication” and – perhaps most important – authorized Public Health Service personnel to commission officers with grades, ranks, and pay rates similar to officers of the Army and Navy.
Public Health at this time consisted of the Office of the Surgeon General, The National Institute of Health, the Bureau of State Services, and the Bureau of Medical Services. This Act was the beginning of giving significant power to public health authorities over citizens of the U.S.[1]
Over the years, powers vested in public health increased, but in incremental ways that most people were unaware of. Americans tend to think that if something does not immediately affect them, it’s not worth paying attention to it.
For example, in 2005, there was considerable hysteria about Bird Flu, driven by predictions made by Neil Ferguson. He promotes himself as an epidemiologist but is actually a poor fortune teller. He predicted that 150,000,000 people would die from bird flu, but the actual number was only 455. His prediction was 32,967 times too high.[2]
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[1] Public Health Service Act, 1944. Public Health Rep 1944 Jul-Aug;109(4):468