You like being healthy, right? Good, because N.H. will continue to be involved with the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. The state isn’t publicly joining, according to Gov. Kelly Ayotte, but at least it’s something.
The Northeast Public Health Collaborative was established last year as a backup plan if the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were failing or to help with areas it was failing in, according to a quote from Massachusetts Health Commissioner Dr. Robert Goldstein in a New Hampshire Bulletin article.
This decision followed President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming Tylenol causes Autism. It must have really shaken up our corner of the country, as well as the rise in layoffs and massive budget cuts with federal public health agencies.
Every state in New England, as well as New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, joined–well, all of New England, all except for little old New Hampshire.
What’s funny is that there have been emails found and proof of N.H. officials being deeply involved in the group by attending meetings. So why don’t we join? Is it because we’re a “red state?” Is the state refusing to join with the other color and officially become purple, or is it the collaborative unwilling to take them in? Teamwork makes the dream work. Besides, just because we’re a “red state” doesn’t mean we can’t communicate with the blue ones and team up. I thought there’d be no politics at the table, anyways.
In the same New Hampshire Bulletin article, Ayotte is quoted saying that she has trust in the state’s epidemiologist (a scientist who studies the causes, control and patterns of diseases to control the public’s health, according to Merriam-Webster), Dr. Benjamin Chan and his team, to keep the state healthy. Because of this confidence, she doesn’t think she needs to completely join. I guess sharing is caring, just not publicly.
In addition, Ayotte also said that she wants N.H. to make its own decisions on what’s best for itself. That makes sense to me; only we really know what’s going on in our state. I’m just glad that we are still in communication with the group in case it turns out that we don’t know. Let’s just hope Chan knows what he’s doing if the zombie apocalypse breaks out.
With the state so involved in the collaborative, though, why do we want to stay excluded? What makes sense to me is joining to make sure we do have a backup plan if something along the lines of another pandemic or “Resident Evil” were to happen, but keep the same involvement and still rely on the state’s own plans and word for how they act.
I don’t think this is a group that overrules the states within, but is a way for the states to collaborate to help one another. Joining makes complete sense, but I’m not the governor. I respect Ayotte’s choice, though, in taking pride and confidence in your own state’s systems. At least we have that going for us.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
