'It's political': Idaho county's GOP commissioners drop doctor from public health board

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BOISE, Idaho — One of the leading voices in the Boise area's response to the coronavirus pandemic was stripped of his position on the Central District Health Board of Health in a move he charges was politically motivated, just as public health experts are warning that a highly contagious variant could lead to another spike in infections.

Dr. Ted Epperly was informed last week in an email signed by the Ada County Board of Commissioners that he would not be retained after 15 years with the health district. Instead, the president and CEO of Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, a retired U.S. Army colonel, is being sidelined from the body tasked with ensuring the region's public health. Epperly said the reason is clear: pandemic directives, including mandatory face coverings, that were unpopular with Republicans who now have a majority on the commission.

"There's no place in this for politics," Epperly said. "At the end of the day, this decision was not based on me failing as a physician and as an expert on public health. It's what we've seen with the victimization of scientists, of medical experts, of knowledge. They have become casualties in this politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic, and yes, I think that played out with me as well."

Epperly, 67, who served as the only physician on the health board, said he was given no advance notice prior to last week's email that his five-year term would be allowed to lapse at the end of June. According to a county spokeswoman, an opening for the volunteer position was posted to the county commissioners' website on June 16, setting a June 30 deadline for applications.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-political-idaho-countys-gop-commissioners-drop-doctor-from-public-health-board/ar-AALFari

[Deminpenn]

1. A problem Mother Nature will eventually resolve

nt

[samnsara]

2. my trumper sis and her hubby ran away to sandpoint years ago to live off the grid..

..wonder whatever became of them.

[Yavin4]

3. We will never have total control of the pandemic without mandating the vaccines.

It simply won't happen.

[nycbos]

4. Indeed.

And the problem is anti-VAX assholes don't just exist on the far right, they exist on the far left too. It's one of the issues that gives credence to the horseshoe theory of politics.