A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Improving
Oregon State
Hospital
T
he Oregon State Hospital serves adults who
face some of the most difficult psychiatric
challenges and need hospital care. The state of Or-
egon has not succeeded in finding enough people
to provide the necessary high quality of care and
protect staff and patients.
The state hospital serves people who might be an
imminent danger to themselves or others because
of mental illness. It serves people guilty except for
insanity. And it also serves people who are not able
to participate in a trial because of mental illness.
For years, the hospital has not been fully staffed.
It takes a special kind of person to work day after
day with patients with such high levels of need.
The pandemic made that worse. It got so bad that
twice recently 30 members of the National Guard
were deployed to the hospital to assist.
The Oregon Health Authority requested $33.5
million to establish 319 full-time equivalent posi-
tions and make some changes in training to help.
OHA also wants to adopt a 36-hour schedule for
the nurses there. The Legislative Fiscal Office,
which does policy analysis for the Legislature, is
not sure those are the right solutions. It wants leg-
islators to look at the problem more closely.
As the Legislative Fiscal Office argues, the state
hospital has long had problems filling its exist-
ing positions. Would adding more positions really
help? And switching to a 36-hour work week may
need other changes in Oregon law. Pay and bene-
fits are an issue. Morale is an issue. The size of the
labor pool for the type of worker near Salem and
Junction City is an issue. The Legislative Fiscal Of-
fice is concerned that the proposal “could poten-
tially be underestimating the incentives required
to achieve the necessary staffing levels in a highly
secured psychiatric hospital like OSH.”
This isn’t a problem that legislators will be able
to solve in the 2022 session. But they do need to
work on it and continue to work on it with hear-
ings throughout the year — or years.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker
City Herald. Columns, letters and cartoons on this
page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
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Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald,
P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814
Email: news@bakercityherald.com
COLUMN
The loss of trust in public health
BY JUDITH WALZER LEAVITT
Some of the most alarming govern-
ment actions since the COVID-19 pan-
demic began have weakened state author-
ity to safeguard public health. At least 26
states have removed traditional powers
from local health departments, the insti-
tutions tasked with protecting us.
New state laws, for example, take away
or limit health officials’ abilities to re-
quire masks, promote vaccinations, close
restaurants and schools or even impose
quarantines.
These limitations on local authority
might seem inevitable in a country where
voters often fear government overreach.
But in fact these changes run counter to
the historical trend in the U.S., which has
overwhelmingly been to increase public
health powers during epidemics.
At the beginning of European settle-
ment in America, there were no govern-
ment health departments. But, faced with
devastating, terrifying and frequent out-
breaks of deadly diseases, colonists estab-
lished temporary boards of health to set
public policy intended to save lives.
These temporary boards quarantined
ships in the harbor, required sick resi-
dents to isolate at home and disbanded
when the epidemics passed. But, over
time, these boards became permanent.
They increasingly expanded local and
state authority to regulate community be-
havior in the name of public health. The
public cooperated throughout the 19th
and 20th centuries as Americans devel-
oped a sense of civic obligation and re-
sponsibility.
Because of this growing public com-
mitment, the powers of cities and states
to control disease increased with new ep-
idemics. Repeated occurrences of yellow
fever, cholera, smallpox and scarlet fever
led to the establishment of public health
departments that we recognize today.
Paid commissioners and health boards,
and their staffs of inspectors and regula-
tors, isolated the sick in contagious dis-
ease hospitals, vaccinated residents and
created a sanitary environment. Health
departments, often in conjunction with
other city and state agencies, built clean
water and sewer systems, regulated gar-
bage collection and disposal, inspected
restaurants, monitored school environ-
ments and set safety standards to ensure
safe milk and food supplies. During ep-
idemics, officials often forbade public
gatherings, closed schools and bars and
insisted on social distancing in churches.
Throughout our history, Americans
learned that their individual liberty to op-
pose a health order during a time of com-
munity danger must be subsumed to the
public good. The right of health officials
to try to control infectious diseases was
confirmed with the 1905 U.S. Supreme
Court decision Jacobson vs. Massachu-
setts, which empowered local and state
health authorities to order vaccinations
during epidemic outbreaks when public
health was threatened. If some individu-
als did not comply, they could be fined or
jailed.
Although COVID-19 has ignited con-
troversy over local and state health agen-
cies, public acceptance of their power and
authority was widespread throughout the
20th century. In 1947, when smallpox
threatened New York City, 6 million New
Yorkers voluntarily lined up in the streets
awaiting their inoculations to comply
with the health department’s vaccination
ruling. This public cooperation took less
than a month and resulted in a very low
number of infected people.
In addition, since the 1950s, the federal
government has played an increasingly
prominent role in public health. State
governments sought federal help when
disease crises crossed state lines and when
implementation of effective action re-
quired interstate cooperation. During the
1947 smallpox outbreak, the U.S. Public
Health Service traced the contacts of the
individual who brought smallpox to New
York, following his steps across the coun-
try — a task outside the purview of city
health officials.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as in
earlier health crises, state health depart-
ments have had to depend on federal sup-
port and national coordination to contain
the disease. They have not had the capac-
ity themselves to produce an effective vac-
cine, and since vaccines were developed,
states have needed help with procurement
and distribution. They still need help with
maintaining equipment and personnel in
hospitals to care for rapid increases in the
number of sick people. And they need na-
tional leaders to promote the importance
of vaccination and continued mask use.
Yet such coordination in local, state
and federal efforts is weakened by the
new state laws that limit health officials’
powers, which will leave us unable to deal
with future pandemics effectively.
In earlier periods of American history,
increased authority and funding for dis-
ease control would have been routine.
Now the politicization of masking, testing
and vaccination has made efforts to curb
COVID-19 even more difficult.
Historically the public response to
community health danger was ruled by
the need to care about others. This tradi-
tion has served the country well over the
last 300 years. But it is no longer standard
in America. The freedom to not wear a
face mask has become more important to
many people than any obligation to oth-
ers. Choosing narrow personal liberties
over community cooperation and protec-
tion does not bode well for our ability to
withstand future crises.
Judith Walzer Leavitt is professor
emerita in the history of medicine at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-
1111; to send comments, go to www.whitehouse.
gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office: 313 Hart Senate
Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland office: One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250,
Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900.
Baker City office, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen Senate
Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-
5244; fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office: 105 Fir St.,
No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-7691; fax,
541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): D.C. office: 2182
Rayburn Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515,
202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. La Grande office:
1211 Washington Ave., La Grande, OR 97850; 541-
624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem,
OR 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100,
Salem OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and
information are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem office:
900 Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1730. Email: Sen.LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem office: 900
Court St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460.
Email: Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker
City, OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049.
City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays
at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. Councilors Lynette
Perry, Jason Spriet, Kerry McQuisten, Shane Alderson,
Joanna Dixon, Heather Sells and Johnny Waggoner
Sr., Dean Guyer.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan
Cannon, city manager; Ty Duby, police chief; Sean Lee,
fire chief; Michelle Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County
Courthouse 1995 3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-
523-8200. Meets the first and third Wednesdays at 9
a.m.; Bill Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett, Bruce Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis
Ash, sheriff; Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter,
district attorney; Alice Durflinger, county treasurer;
Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry Savage, county
assessor.
OTHER VIEWS
Biden needs to show sense of urgency with inflation
Editorial from The Detroit News:
While President Joe Biden is
off doing Civil War reenactments,
American families are left trying to
balance household budgets that are
being smashed by soaring prices.
Inflation topped 7% in 2021, the
largest surge in consumer costs
since 1982.
Break out basic necessities, and
the inflation impact is even more
devastating:
• Meat, poultry, fish and eggs rose
12.5%.
• Energy is up 30% overall, with
gasoline prices climbing nearly 50%,
fuel oil topping 40% and natural gas,
24%.
• New vehicles climbed nearly
12%, and used cars and trucks by
more than 37%.
Americans who live closer to real-
ity than Biden does are far more con-
cerned with those distressing price
tags than they are his trumped-up
claims of war on democracy.
The White House defends Biden’s
avoidance of inflation by saying
there’s little a president can do about
rising prices. They blame the pan-
demic and breakdowns in the supply
chain for driving up costs.
That’s only partially true. Cer-
tainly, the disruptions of COVID-19
continue to strain the workforce and
the ability of producers to meet de-
mand.
But policies have consequences, as
does a lack of policy.
Biden has not detailed an urgent
response to inflation, and much of
what he’s done in other areas has
helped fuel the price spikes.
His American Rescue Plan
pumped $2 trillion into the economy
last spring. That created a surge in
consumer demand that arrived well
before producers were prepared to
meet it.
Provisions of that package, includ-
ing extended unemployment bene-
fits and pull-ahead child tax credits,
lessened the incentive to return to
work. Workforce participation re-
mains below where it was at the start
of the pandemic in 2020.
Biden has also tightened the
screws on the oil and gas industry,
restricting drilling, withdrawing tax
credits, killing pipelines and placing
wide swaths of the country off-limits
to oil and gas exploration. Domestic
oil production is 2 billion barrels a
day below pre-pandemic levels.
In addition, Biden has ignored his
campaign promise to “shut down the
virus.” Nearly as many Americans
have died of COVID-19 during his
tenure as before he took office.
The new omicron variant is raging
unchecked. Biden acknowledged, “I
wish I’d thought” of ordering more
tests last fall when the highly conta-
gious surge surfaced.
If not the pandemic, what was the
president thinking about?
Forcing through his far-left
agenda. And that remains his pri-
ority.
The only answer the White House
has offered for countering the im-
pact of higher prices is passage of
Biden’s massive $5 trillion “Build
Back Better” bill, which will flood
even more government cash into the
economy and make it even easier for
workers to turn down jobs.
The Federal Reserve, which
bears responsibility for keeping
inflation in check, now considers
inflation a serious threat. Chair
Jerome Powell, when he spoke to
Congress Tuesday, struck a differ-
ent tone from last year, when he
and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin
labeled inflation “transitory.”
The ed has stopped its monthly
$40 billion purchase of mortgage
securities, which may help cool the
overheated housing market. And an
interest rate hike is expected.
Leaving the Build Back Better bill
on the shelf would also help ease in-
flation fears.
Having let inflation go untended
for so long, the Fed and the Biden
administration now face a delicate
balance. If they move too aggres-
sively, they risk plunging the econ-
omy into recession.
This work requires Biden’s full at-
tention. He must move with skill and
deliberation to keep soaring prices
from overwhelming the paychecks
of Americans.