Senate HELP Hearing: Examining Our COVID-19 Response: An Update from the Frontlines

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing to examine the COVID-19 response, inviting public health officials and health care professionals from the frontlines of the crisis to speak before the lawmakers.

Witnesses included the following:

• Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, Washington State Secretary of Health and former NACCHO President
• Jerry P. Abraham, MD, MPH, CMQ, Director of Kedren Health Vaccines in South Los Angeles, CA
• Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health
• Mary Ann Fuchs, DNP, RN. NEA-BC, FAAN, Vice President of Patient Care & System Chief Nurse Executive at Duke University Health System

In his opening testimony, Dr. Shah stated that the pandemic is far from over, noting that over 5,000 Washington state residents have lost their lives to the virus. Recalling his time as NACCHO President, Dr. Shah told lawmakers that it is essential to recognize the work local health departments do as they continue to fight the pandemic on the front lines. In response to questions from Senator Casey (D-PA) about the public health infrastructure, Dr. Shah made the analogy that public health is equivalent to an “invisible offensive line on a football team,” yet has been chronically underfunded for decades—including in emergency response. Echoing these points, Dr. Jha called for a sustained investment in public health infrastructure, with equity at the center.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Jha noted that vaccinations for people of color have lagged far behind white Americans, calling on Congress to require collection of vaccination data by age, race, ethnicity, and income. Dr. Abraham built upon this point in his opening remarks, noting that from his experience as a director of a federally qualified health center in South Los Angeles, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities have been laid bare throughout the pandemic. Despite these challenges, Dr. Abraham noted that strong community ties and collaboration led to the vaccination of 52,000 individuals in South Los Angeles to date. Lawmakers voiced concerns about these disparities in a bipartisan fashion, with Chair Murray (D-WA) mentioning that black Americans are dying at a rate 1.4 times that of white Americans in her first question to the panel.

In her opening testimony, Dr. Fuchs noted that workforce burnout has been an issue since the beginning of the pandemic, calling on members of Congress to invest in the public health workforce as it would support any future response to a health crisis—NACCHO has continuously advocated for workforce investment to lawmakers. Building on the issue of workforce, all of the health officials testifying voiced concern for mental health issues amongst health professionals after Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) raised the concern during the question-and-answer session. Dr. Fuchs noted during the session that direct studies on the pandemic’s impact on the workforce, and workplace violence initiatives, are needed to support health staff. Other issues that were raised throughout the hearing were the challenges to reopening schools; vaccine supply and demand; the emerging viral variants; as well as the looming disability crisis that will stem from the pandemic.

Dr. Shah: Public health is equivalent to an “invisible offensive line on a football team,” yet has been chronically underfunded for decades.