Public health not a partisan issue

Sue Lani Madsen’s column in Thursday’s Spokesman-Review just seemed to further fuel the lack of transparency that has been “politics as usual. Yes, there actually is a pandemic, it is not a hoax, and Trump really did lose the election.

To those of us who observed the Spokane Regional Health Board’s meeting to assess Dr. Bob Lutz’s employment status, the predetermined outcome was all too apparent. Since when did health care decisions fall under the purview of elected officials? Since when can physicians be chastised covertly, or otherwise for behaving ethically to the dismay of those who sometimes don’t? Public health is too vital to all of us to be left to those who might be swayed by business and political interests. House Bill 1152 addresses this by ensuring that local Boards of Health are made up of at least a 50/50 mix of healthcare professionals and elected officials.

Anyone who thinks this is a “a pattern of executive power grabs” should consider the 30,000 dead on Florida’s maskless beaches. Maybe they’d like Florida better.

Ron Tussey

Spokane