Governing Council of North Dakota Public Health Association

The North Dakota Public Health Association (NDPHA) is made up of the public health professionals leading prevention and education efforts, carrying out testing, tracing, quarantine and isolation efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We are alarmed and extremely concerned as North Dakota’s rates of infection, number of hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise even as our members are working harder and longer.

Public health emergency declarations are in effect and include a global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020; a national public health emergency for COVID-19 declared by United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary on January 27, 2020; a national emergency due to the growing COVID-19 crisis declared by President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020; and a declaration of a state of North Dakota emergency on March 13, 2020.

The NDPHA requests that the Governor use emergency powers and all regular powers as Governor, in addition to connections across states and across the federal government, to continue to bring resources to our state. While the amount of testing for the population is good when compared to other states, more than testing is needed. We need action not only from public health and healthcare professionals, but from every single person in North Dakota.

We ask you to call for a statewide mandated wearing of masks; “personal responsibility” is not enough to change the trajectory of the virus’ impact on North Dakota’s people. If it were, our rates of infection, and numbers of illnesses and deaths would be leveling off or decreasing. Unless more intense actions are taken, more of our people will become sick, experience long-lasting impacts, and die. There is evidence from Arizona and Kansas to show that these actions as part of comprehensive mitigation efforts (including physical distancing, hand-washing, avoiding large crowds, strategic testing, rapid isolation of infected people and supportive quarantine for people who need to isolate) reduce the rates of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus by up to 50 percent.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus does not recognize city, county or state boundaries. The more that we can work together in getting the virus under control, the more quickly our economy can resume. President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Neel Kashkari noted, “Real, lasting economic recovery and growth start with controlling the virus (until effective vaccine/treatment).” We can help our state with economic recovery only if we are using all the tools available to us.

We also respectfully request that you do not submit a budget reduction in any form for the North Dakota Department of Health or any funding that flows to local public health units in the coming biennium. This public health crisis is placing an unprecedented strain on our local public health employees and infrastructure. We have nothing more to cut and do need additional resources and personnel to carry these actions through.

Thank you for the consideration of these requests in an expedited fashion.