The swift and intensive response was funded largely by a new bucket of money in the state budget for public health and preparedness across California, said Manuel Carmona, Pasadena’s deputy director of public health. Gavin Newsom had agreed to allocate $300 million each year for the state’s chronically underfunded public health system. “That dengue outbreak was stopped because we had more ability to hire, and that was a huge public health success,” she said. Public health officials warned the state would be vulnerable to health and economic disasters should they lose the hard-won funding. “But it’s devastating to think of going back to this boom-and-bust cycle of public health funding that goes neglect, panic, repeat.”

Source: Los Angeles Times May 17, 2024 09:19 UTC