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Today was the LAST day of the General Assembly’s Joint Appropriations hearings. The state’s Budget Director, Kelly Farr, bragged that the budget is “flat like a crepe,” ignoring that additional funding is needed for public health during a pandemic.
Why is more funding needed? For starters, Georgia’s vaccine rollout has been a “snafu” and a “debacle,” leading health care workers and frontline heroes to “scramble” for the vaccine: https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/health-care-workers-still-scramble-for-vaccine/4MDBGYA2BZG2PHMJZEXSTFO2DU/
In fact, Georgia has actually been ranked the WORST state in the country for vaccine distribution. https://www.albanyherald.com/news/georgia-nations-worst-state-in-delivering-vaccines/article_d3aa33da-54e6-11eb-98a8-93b1254eb6a3.html
And as the Georgia Recorder rightly pointed out, the problems with the vaccine rollout can be DIRECTLY traced to years of flat budgets for public health.. https://georgiarecorder.com/2021/01/20/georgias-slow-covid-vaccine-rollout-exposes-broad-public-health-shortcomings/
In addition to an abysmal COVID response, Georgia has the single worst rate of maternal mortality of any state in the nation. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-12/these-states-have-the-highest-maternal-mortality-rates
Georgia continues to rank 48th in the nation for adequate healthcare coverage AND for HIV risks to its citizens. https://www.wabe.org/pandemic-could-swell-georgias-medicaid-rolls-numbers-of-uninsured/#:~:text=Georgia's%20uninsured%20rate%20in%202018,of%20people%20without%20health%20insurance.
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-near-the-top-in-hiv-risk-new-report-shows/#:~:text=Men%20have%20a%20much%20higher,by%20heterosexual%20contact%20at%2023.6%25
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-near-the-top-in-hiv-risk-new-report-shows/#:~:text=Men%20have%20a%20much%20higher,by%20heterosexual%20contact%20at%2023.6%25
And of course, to the pain of rural Georgians specifically, Georgia has the third highest rate of rural hospital closures in the nation. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/state-by-state-breakdown-of-134-rural-hospital-closures.html
With all of Georgia’s health challenges, especially during a pandemic, additional - not “flat like a crepe” - funding for public health is needed to speed up vaccine distribution and make Georgians healthier. #gapol
