Of Tax Breaks And TB Outbreaks

The State of Florida is learning, the really hard and dangerous way, that tax breaks and spending cuts don't come cheap:

The CDC officer had a serious warning for Florida health officials in April: A tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville was one of the worst his group had investigated in 20 years. Linked to 13 deaths and 99 illnesses, including six children, it would require concerted action to stop.

That report had been penned on April 5, exactly nine days after Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill that shrank the Department of Health and required the closure of the A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana, where tough tuberculosis cases have been treated for more than 60 years.

As health officials in Tallahassee turned their focus to restructuring, Dr. Robert Luo’s 25-page report describing Jacksonville’s outbreak — and the measures needed to contain it – went unseen by key decision makers around the state. At the health agency, an order went out that the TB hospital must be closed six months ahead of schedule.

Had they seen the letter, decision makers would have learned that 3,000 people in the past two years may have had close contact with contagious people at Jacksonville’s homeless shelters, an outpatient mental health clinic and area jails. Yet only 253 people had been found and evaluated for TB infection, meaning Florida’s outbreak was, and is, far from contained.

The public was not to learn anything until early June, even though the same strain was appearing in other parts of the state, including Miami.

The article goes on to discuss how a man with TB had been transferred to hospitals, group homes, prison and other facilities without being treated for eight months.

If that means nothing to you, think about how many people you've been in contact with in the past eight months. The list would, of course, include your family, coworkers and neighbors. But it would also be the cashier at the grocery store, the gas station and anywhere else you went shopping. It would include your friends. It would include the bartender at your favorite bar - and everyone else that was in the pub while you were there, each time you were there. You've got quite a long list there, don't you? Now imagine all the people those people have been in contact with since they were exposed to TB by you.

See how quickly things can get out of control? This was made even worse by the secrecy and keeping the reports away from not only the public, but from other government officials.

The report also says that the average cost of treating one person with TB is $275,000. That's per person. Now think again about all the people that have been in contact with you or someone you've been in contact with someone who was in contact with you?

Not only did almost a score of people die already, I bet that Governor Scott, like our governor, isn't really saving anyone any money for the taxpayers.

No wonder they are afraid of getting exposed.