KERN IS FULL OF PROFESSIONALS IN THE HEALTH COMMUNITY

Does wearing a mask and taking precautions completely eliminate the risk of getting COVID? Will eating at a restaurant be 100 percent safe if the business follows CDC, state and local guidelines? Is it even possible in the midst of a pandemic to completely eliminate the risk of catching COVID when you leave your home?

In the absolute, I think the answer to all of these questions is no.

Determining the likelihood of disease transmission and public health, like most things in health care, seems an extremely complex analysis and even the best answers are often wrong. None of this is a reason to ignore the advice and direction of those trained in public health.

Virtually every public health official in this country, and certainly all that work in Kern County, are professionally trained and educated in the foundations and finer points of maintaining the general health of their respective communities. You won’t find them showing up at the post office, telling postal employees how to deliver the mail, nor will you find them pinning a badge on their chest and instructing law enforcement on how to investigate a peace disturbance or make a traffic stop. They also didn’t get their education by way of social media nor do they make more money depending on the decisions they make.

Public health officials takes the uncertainty and complexity of maintaining the health of a community, combined with their education and actual experience, to make difficult but informed decisions.

Yet there is no shortage of contrary opinions from those whose education has nothing to do with public health or those with a personal or financial stake in the decisions we should be allowing the experts to make. I know that some folks will always look at government and see nothing but manipulation and conspiracy, but in my 37 years of public service, I have always found the professionals who serve Kern County to be passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated to the people they serve. — Thomas Morgan, Bakersfield