A panel of public health experts tasked with analyzing the United States’ COVID-19 response concluded that federal health agencies should be given more power to better handle pandemics in the future. “The United States should build a national public health system to promote and protect the health of every person, regardless of who they are and where they live,” the report reads. It also calls for the president to narrow the acceptable uses for public health funds and to set new standards for the accreditation of local and state health authorities. “This commission will ignore every single issue underlying why the US response to the pandemic failed,” tweeted Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “Instead it will propose to concentrate public health power in the federal government so that in future, no state can opt out of a national lockdown.”

Source: New York Times June 23, 2022 09:17 UTC