Democratic governors form a public health alliance in a rebuke of Trump

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Cliff Owen/AP A gaggle of Democratic state governors has launched a brand new alliance geared toward coordinating their public well being efforts

They're framing it as a technique to share information, messages about threats, emergency preparedness and public well being coverage — and as a rebuke to President Donald Trump's administration, which they are saying is not doing its job in public well being.

"At a time when the federal authorities is telling the states, 'you are by yourself,' governors are banding collectively," Maryland Governor Wes Moore stated in an announcement.

The formation of the group touches off a brand new chapter in a partisan battle over public well being measures that has been heightened by Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s advisers declining to suggest COVID-19 vaccinations, as a substitute leaving the selection to the person.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies, stated in an electronic mail that Democratic governors who imposed faculty closures and masks mandates, together with for toddlers, on the peak of the pandemic, are those who "destroyed public belief in public well being."

"The Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy are rebuilding that belief by grounding each coverage in rigorous proof and Gold Normal Science — not the failed politics of the pandemic," Nixon stated.

The preliminary members are all Democrats The Governors Public Well being Alliance payments itself as a "nonpartisan coordinating hub," however the preliminary members are all Democrats — the governors of 15 states plus Guam.

Amongst them are governors of probably the most populous blue states, California and New York, and several other governors who're thought of doable 2028 presidential candidates, together with California's Gavin Newsom, Illinois' JB Pritzker and Maryland's Moore.

The thought of banding collectively for public well being is not new for Democratic governors. They shaped regional teams to handle the pandemic throughout Trump's first time period and launched new ones in current months amid uncertainty on federal vaccine coverage. States have additionally taken steps to protect entry to COVID-19 vaccines.

The brand new alliance is not meant to supplant these efforts, or the coordination already achieved by the Affiliation of State and Territorial Well being Officers, its organizers say.

A former CDC director is among the many advisers Dr. Mandy Cohen, who was CDC director beneath former President Joe Biden and earlier than that the pinnacle of the North Carolina Division of Well being and Human Companies, is a part of a bipartisan group of advisers to the alliance.

"The CDC did present an essential backstop for experience and assist," she stated. "And I feel now with a few of that gone, it is essential for states to ensure that they're sharing greatest practices, and that they're coordinating, as a result of the issues haven't gone away. The well being threats haven't gone away."

Different efforts have additionally sprung as much as attempt to fill roles that the CDC carried out earlier than the ouster of a director, together with different restructuring and downsizing.

The Governors Public Well being Alliance has assist from GovAct, a nonprofit, nonpartisan donor-funded initiative that additionally has initiatives geared toward defending democracy and one other partisan hot-button challenge, reproductive freedom.