Curious DOH social media post raises questions?

(This article is an assessment of content published publicly by the DOH, an opinion article)

We pay close attention to what various state agencies post on social media. This week, an article from the Ministry of Health caught our attention.

DOH HAS A CLIMATE DIVISION?

We all know that during fire season, poor air quality creates alerts for people with respiratory issues. Excessive heat can create problems for older people who do not have adequate air conditioning.

But the Ministry of Health’s Facebook post prompted us to look more closely at the issue. Under the title “Role of the Ministry of Health in climate change“we found these lines:

• “Climate change is one of Governor Jay Inslee’s top priorities.
• Our Health Secretary has said climate change is a high priority for the Department of Health.”

The department goes on to list how it reacts to a Subject of climate-related changes, namely forest fires. We all know they are deadly and in some cases preventable through good management of forests and wild lands with MNR for years.

It looks like the DOH is very close to circumvent the line between public health and political advocacy. By assuming and 100% accepting the premise of climate change, are they acting, de facto, as political agents for Inslee?

This is also from their website:

Our Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response climate change added to its mandate to ensure that our state is better able to respond to any threat to public health. This office works to build and maintain the public health and medical emergency preparedness system and capabilities throughout Washington.

Their team focuses on “all-hazards” planning and capacity development, preparing for the kinds of situations expected from climate change, including natural disasters, major emergencies and extreme weather events. Similar planning can be done by individuals, communities and families. (bold letters added for underlining).

It seems that when they’re not bombarding citizens with vaccination messages, they’re spending time being political activists for Governor Inslee.