A recent court ruling has stripped state and local public health agencies of their power to establish disease prevention measures, which has led to the abandonment of most or all of their covid-19 tracking and prevention work.
The Missouri state attorney general sent cease-and-desist letters to local public health departments and school districts because of a court decision.
If you don't follow the court's judgement, you could be in trouble for removing orders the court has determined are unconstitutional and illegal. We encourage you to take immediate action to remove illegal orders.
The Laclede County Health Department, the New Madrid County Health Department, and several other Missouri health agencies announced this week that they are abandoning all work related to the covid-19 Pandemic.
The Laclede County Health Department wrote in a Facebook post that they had no other options but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General. On the same day, the New Madrid County Health Department posted a similar message.
This all happened at a bad time, as the number of coronaviruses in Missouri has risen recently. Over the past two weeks, the state has seen a 124% increase in new cases and a 50% increase in hospitalizations, according to the New York Times.
The Cole County Circuit Court ruled in November that the DHSS power to issue precautionary measures such as mask mandates and quark is in violation of the state constitution.
The DHSS regulations give an administrative official the authority to implement control measures and create and enforce orders, but that authority is open-ended and can be used to make naked lawmaking in Missouri.
There are gaps in the decision's language that have led to confusion among health officials. Some health agencies are abandoning measures specifically cited in the ruling, but continuing other work related to covid-19 with the caveat that they are still awaiting further guidance from the DHSS.
The Washington County Health Department said in a Facebook post Friday that it can no longer require people who have tested positive for the virus to be isolated, but it will still require them to be.
The Republican running for the U.S. Senate has declared war on the state's health departments and school systems after Green's ruling.
Public health authorities and school districts have gone too far in their quest to exert their new-found power. The statement was posted by his office and said that his office would enforce the court order.
The U.S. reached a grim milestone on Sunday, with over one million deaths related to coronaviruses. More Americans died from covid-19 in 2021 than in 2020 due to the Delta variant, as the outlet notes, even with vaccines widely and freely available for much of this year. No amount of blood on the hands of public officials will make them take the Pandemic seriously. If that isn't depressing.
