The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and it lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century.
An investigation by The Associated Press and KHN finds that since 2010, spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita and by 18% per capita for local health departments. At least 38,000 public health jobs have disappeared, leaving a skeletal workforce for what was once viewed as one of the world’s top public health systems.
It's left the U.S. unprepared to deal with a virus that's sickened at least 2.6 million people and killed more than 126,000.
