Demons & dunces at Los Angeles County Public Health Department

Say what you will about Anthony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and their respective flailing and failing federal agencies; Los Angeles County trumps these bloviating bureaucrats hands down, when it comes to using the population as lab rats in a cynical social experiment.

The face of our horrible health department is one Barbara Ferrer, a highly compensated (just under $500K/year all-in) social worker with lots of letters, periods, and commas after her name.

source: @lapublichealth Twitter

BARBARA FERRERPhD, MPH, MEd
DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
source: publichealth.lacounty.gov/

Mind you, Ferrer is not a medical doctor, infectious disease specialist, an epidemiologist, or even… like Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist. She’s a social worker.

But pay no mind to the disqualifying details. She’s a ‘doctor!’

source: fact-files.org

I’d have no quarrel with her credentials (or lack thereof) if Ms. Ferrer were managing the public’s health in a healthy way, which she is not. The county’s ‘case’ rate — admittedly a ridiculous metric, by any measure — is consistently high. According to local media, which simply parrots whatever propaganda comes down the pipeline, our hospitals and healthcare workers are super-stretched and stressed. This is to say, we don’t have a hell of a lot to brag about.

One of the most glaring derelictions of duty, however, is the fact that Ferrer didn’t leverage her degree in education to actually educate the public about how to live a healthful lifestyle. The irony! Double irony, come to think of it…

There was a long period of time between variants and surges — a period during which the indoor mask mandate in LA was actually lifted! — when LAPH could have and should have come up with a science-based campaign revolving around exercise, eating habits, vitamin supplements, and sunshine. Heck, they probably could have managed to squeeze more money out of the Board of Supes: consultants, graphic designers, union phys-ed teachers who want overtime (not that they’re working regular hours as it is)!

Again, they did no such thing. To many of us highly-taxed Angelenos, the unelected officials appeared to be promoting only more anxiety, more testing, more sequestration — more measures that most of the country long abandoned.

And even as evidence repeatedly shows that their idea of keeping people ‘safe’ (that word triggers me) and well is not working, they double-down. Those paying the highest price for Ferrer & Co’s deliberate incompetence are LA County’s kids. Unfortunately, the plurality of parents are totes down with Ferrer’s fear factory.

Some parents aren’t having it, however.

Cynthia LA Parent @cynrojasla

There is so much we don't know. Two years in and Ferrer is still saying we should keep restrictions to prevent transmission bc there isn't enough info on Long Covid and MIS-C. How much longer will she make our kids wait for normal life?

Cynthia LA Parent @cynrojasla

This is @lapublichealth take on kids doing physical activity such as dance at school. Kids are supposed to "limit their exertion" so they can keep their mask on, even if the class is outdoors. LA is so deep into masks I don't know how it can be undone unless we #FireFerrer.

If you’re speechless, so are we. Except for one thing: we will not be silenced and we will never shut up.

While I don’t have children of my own, I do have a stake in protecting the next generation from the abusive mad-scientist monsters in Los Angeles government.