Opinion: Politics shouldn’t trump public health, especially during a pandemic

Difficult choices accompanied the reopening of public schools amid the pandemic. Local public health authorities ensure that during moments of epidemiological crisis, science, not politics, drives decision making.

Texas law gives local health authorities the power to determine whether conditions are unsafe for the members of their communities, including public school students. A local health authority is a licensed physician appointed by local elected officials who takes an oath to administer state and local laws relating to public health within the local jurisdiction. This protocol of accountability ensures that public health, not short-term political expediency, takes priority. As part of the protocol, local health authorities work with locally elected school board trustees to keep kids, teachers, and communities safe.

This medical and legal precedent is breaking down as Texas politicians turn their focus away from the pandemic and toward the 2022 elections. Recently, our elected officials have empowered the state at the expense of the local, often for reasons blatantly driven by provincial politics, not sound public policy. In recent weeks, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sowed confusion and discord when he gave school districts an “open or else” ultimatum. According to our state’s top cop, schools that abide by local officials and open slowly could lose their state funding. Within days, Texas Governor Greg Abbott affirmed Paxton’s position.

It seems deeply ironic that state politicians would usurp local authority in Texas where “local control” has always been paramount. In this case, politics are trumping principle. As the pandemic has grown, some leaders in Texas have chosen to ignore the wisdom of local authorities. The reopening of schools has become a political football as Paxton and Abbott jockey for position in the run-up to the 2022 Texas Republican primary.

Instead of hearing a clear and consistent message focused on public health, Texans are hearing politics as usual, and now uncertainty and anger reign among stakeholders of our public school system. Parents across Texas are scared and confused. Teachers and administrators lack certainty about safety and education protocols. Businesses have no idea if their employees will continue to be stretched in every direction, juggling impossible expectations as they struggle to balance work and family.

While Texans are right to be outraged by the politicization of public health and a safe return to schools, this power play by state politicians reveals a deeper, more troubling reality. Not only are politicians playing with Texans’ lives for political gain, they are also pitting one branch of locally elected government against another branch of local government. Instead of supporting Texas communities, our leaders are pitting local officials against one another, creating a dangerous mix of confusion and complacency.

Texas is doomed if we allow politicians to make public health decisions. They lack the appropriate expertise. Local health authorities should be left alone to their work to protect the public’s health— free from political interference. When politicians over-reach their authority and responsibility, people pay real-world consequences. During this pandemic, these circumstances include sickness and death.

Texas must respect the power of its local health authorities and the wisdom of its local communities. A pandemic is no time for dangerous political posturing.

Winnike is president and CEO of The Immunization Partnership, a statewide nonprofit organization.