Democratic lawmakers: Republican threats to defund Kent County Health Department over mask mandate abhorre – MLive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Democratic state lawmakers are firing back at their Republican colleagues who last week told Kent Countys top health official that mandating masks in schools could impact the local health departments state funding.

Scoring political points with threats to defund public health in the midst of a pandemic is abhorrent, and it is disturbing that some of our colleagues, none of whom hold expertise in public health, have chosen to make such public threats against our top-notch county public health experts and medical community, wrote state Sen. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, and state Reps. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, and David LaGrand, D-Grand Rapids in a Thursday, Aug. 19, letter.

Rather than ignoring facts and attempting to score political points, we must come together to protect the public health of our community.

Over the weekend, on Aug. 14, four Republican state representatives sent Kent County Health Department Adam London a letter calling on him not to mandate masks in schools and warning him that doing so could impact his departments funding.

We in the Legislature are willing to use the constitutional tools at our disposal including the power of the purse should a public health officer act outside the sphere of proper authority, wrote state Reps. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, Mark Huizenga, R-Walker, Steven Johnson, R-Wayland and Bryan Posthumus, R-Cannon Township.

The debate around masking, the Republican state representatives wrote, should be settled by allowing Kent County residents to evaluate their own risks, weigh the costs and benefits and act accordingly.

Related: Republican lawmakers to Kent County Health Department: If you mandate masks, we have the power of the purse

County officials have previously said its possible but would be very difficult for state lawmakers to single out one county health department in the states budgeting process.

Each year, about $8.7 million is allocated to the Kent County Health Department mostly for state-mandated programs.

Those include lead poisoning prevention, HIV resources, immunization services, food assistance for low- to moderate-income women, infants and children, emergency preparedness, childrens healthcare services outreach and advocacy, West Nile virus surveillance, essential local public health services and more.

The Democratic state lawmakers, in their Aug. 19 letter to London, called the threat to the health departments budget extremely concerning considering the breadth and impact of programs state dollars fund.

They committed to do everything in our power to prevent the defunding of the Kent County Health Department, should it order scientifically-validated measures to keep all our children safe for in-person learning.

In their letter to London, the Democrats called on London to require masks indoors at schools to protect children as well as the larger community from the spread of COVID-19.

They cited concerns about the rapidly-spreading Delta variant, children being hospitalized by the virus and the recent designation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevating the COVID-19 transmission risk in the county from substantial to high.

London has said masks are effective at significantly limiting COVID transmission in schools, but that he doesnt plan to mandate their use by students and staff at this time.

He strongly urged schools and parents to enforce mask use for K-12 students to lower COVID-19 transmission.

As both Kent County and state health departments have declined to issue mask mandates in schools, some districts -- Kentwood, Grand Rapids and Forest Hills -- have issued mask requirements over the past week.

Kalamazoo, Allegan and Genesee are among the few county health departments that have issued mask mandates for schools.

Related: From pissed to relieved: parents respond to mask mandate in Kalamazoo, Allegan county schools

Read more:

Moms for America Action group calls for parents to strike against K-12 schools that mandate masking

Ban of employer vaccine mandates considered in lopsided House committee hearing

State police seize guns, suspected drugs in serious injury crash on EB I-94

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Democratic lawmakers: Republican threats to defund Kent County Health Department over mask mandate abhorre - MLive.com