Weakened public health powers raise outbreak risks

Demonstrators at a rally with truckers protest against COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates in Adelanto, Calif., in February 2022. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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As Americans worry about the risks from hantavirus and Ebola, many state and local health officials now have less power to protect the public from all kinds of disease outbreaks than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That's because some jurisdictions weakened their public health authorities in response to criticism of lockdowns, school closures, mask mandates, vaccine requirements and other COVID-era restrictions.

"There's been such an enormous backlash from the COVID-19 pandemic right across America, particularly in red states," says Lawrence Gostin , a professor of public health law at Georgetown University. "It's become part of our national lore of overreaching government."

The Trump administration has reined in the Centers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with budget cuts, staff reductions and tighter oversight by political appointees.

But most public health powers reside with the states, and more than half have made changes to their own state, city and local powers , according to the Network for Public Health Law. The changes affect their ability to respond to public health emergencies. Many watered down those authorities.

"Taken all together, we're in a much weaker position post-COVID in handling a health emergency," Gostin says.