Viewpoint: The Trump Administration Has Made the U.S. Less Ready for Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Viewpoint: The Trump Administration Has Made the U.S. Less Ready for Infectious Disease Outbreaks like Coronavirus
The Trump administration has cut funding for infectious disease research and reduced high-level staffing for global health security, leaving the nation less prepared for major outbreaks.
LINDA J. BILMES,THE CONVERSATION | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 01:00 PM ET
As coronavirus continues to spread, the Trump administration has declared a public health emergency and imposed quarantines and travel restrictions. However, over the past three years the administration has weakened the offices in charge of preparing for and preventing this kind of outbreak.
Two years ago, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates warned that the world should be “preparing for a pandemic in the same serious way it prepares for war”. Gates, whose foundation has invested heavily in global health, suggested staging simulations, war games and preparedness exercises to simulate how diseases could spread and to identify the best response.
The Trump administration has done exactly the opposite: It has slashed funding for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its infectious disease research. For fiscal year 2020, Trump proposed cutting the CDC budget by US$1.3 billion, nearly 20% below the 2019 level.
In 2018, Trump tried to cut $65 million from this budget – a 10% reduction. In 2019, he sought a 19% reduction. For 2020, he proposed to cut federal spending on emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases by 20%. This would mean spending $100 million less in 2020 to study how such diseases infect humans than the U.S. did just two years ago.
More:
https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/02/trump-administration-has-made-us-less-ready-infectious-disease-outbreaks-coronavirus/162822/
Republican budget priorities are going to kill us all.
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