APHA Advocates
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* Mark Barna

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/50/7/2.1/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/50/7/2.1/F1)

A bill introduced this summer would bring additional funding to the Transportation Alternatives Program, which funds infrastructure for walking, biking and rolling transportation.

Photo by Vgajic, courtesy iStockphoto

## APHA speaks up for active transportation

Ensuring the safety of walkers and bikers is an important priority in public safety. To further that goal, APHA and its partners are supporting the Invest in America Act, which offers critical funding increases for the Transportation Alternatives Program.

The Transportation Alternatives Program is the largest source of federal funding for walking, biking and rolling transportation, APHA and the other advocates noted in a June 29 letter to Congress. The program helps U.S. communities build sidewalks, bike lanes, trails and crosswalks.

The Invest in America Act would require a nationwide road safety audit to identify dangerous intersections, corridors and other road hazards for bicyclists and pedestrians. It would also require states and metropolitan areas that have above-average levels of deaths and injuries among vulnerable users to assess risks and implement projects to improve safety.

Safety concerns inhibit many people from using active transportation. Fatalities among bikers and walkers make up nearly 20% of all traffic-related deaths, and more than 100,000 people in the U.S. are injured every year while walking and biking.

“This legislation prioritizes investments and policy that would protect people and prevent needless deaths,” the advocates told Congress.

## Bypassing CDC on virus data dangerous

Sending COVID-19 hospital data directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rather than to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention undermines CDC’s authority and harms public trust, APHA and partners said in a July 15 statement.

The Trump administration in July directed hospitals to send coronavirus data to HHS rather than to CDC. But CDC is uniquely qualified to collect, analyze and disseminate information regarding infectious diseases, the advocates said. CDC is in close collaboration with U.S. health facilities nationwide and has developed a respected health statistics infrastructure.

Problems with COVID-19 data collection have largely been a result of the decentralized and fragmented nature of both health care and public health in the U.S., the advocates said. Inadequate funding for data infrastructure at CDC and at the local, state, tribal and territorial levels is also a contributing factor. Underfunding should be corrected, but not by bypassing CDC.

“This is a time to support the public health system, not take actions which may undermine its authority and critical role,” the advocates said.

## APHA sues EPA on weakened air rule

Children and pregnant women are vulnerable to respiratory illnesses from air pollution, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s reversal of a regulatory rule on air pollution endangers their lives. To protect the health of Americans, APHA and partners are taking the agency to court.

APHA joined the American Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Physicians for Social Responsibility in filing legal action June 19 to defend the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, which regulates air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The organizations are also seeking to defend the standard as part of a legal challenge brought by Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC against EPA.

“The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are a success. America’s babies are healthier, and our air is cleaner,” Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said in the joint news release. “EPA’s rule to undermine these standards goes against scientific evidence, and devalues and endangers the health of babies, children, pregnant women and many other vulnerable populations.”

![Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/50/7/2.1/F2.medium.gif)

[Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/50/7/2.1/F2)

In February, supporters of statehood for Washington, D.C., cheer for change in the district. On June 26, the House of Representatives passed the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, which would make the city the 51st state — a move that APHA supports.

Photo by Marvin Joseph, courtesy The Washington Post/Getty Images

## APHA supports D.C. as 51st US state

Washington, D.C.’s lack of statehood harms its ability to deliver health equity to its residents, APHA said in a statement this summer.

On June 26, the House of Representatives passed the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, which would make the district the 51st state and rename it the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. Residents and lawmakers in the district have long supported statehood for Washington, D.C., — which has more than 700,000 residents with no voting representation in Congress — but the June vote was the first time such a measure passed the House. APHA praised the decision.

“Statehood has long been sought by the district, which pays more federal taxes than many other states and has no significant vote for legislation in Congress,” APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, said in a statement. “D.C. also has a minority-majority population. With statehood, it would gain equity and remove a longstanding injustice to D.C.’s residents, now disenfranchised under the current system.

“The House vote today is not symbolic, it’s a step forward in the longtime fight to make D.C. a state. There are many obstacles ahead, but this vote offers an opportunity for the many voices of D.C. to be heard.”

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[Figure3](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/50/7/2.1/F3)

Science and safety are paramount in deciding when and if schools reopen, APHA said.

Photo by FatCamera, courtesty iStockphoto

## APHA supports safety in school openings

Whether schools reopen in the fall should depend on science and safety, not politics, APHA said this summer.

Responding to threats by the White House to withhold federal funding to schools that do not open in-person on schedule, APHA called on decisionmakers July 9 to use evidence as their guide. Reopening schools before the COVID-19 pandemic is under control could worsen cases and deaths, APHA noted.

The Association also denounced attempts by the White House to pressure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise its reopening safety recommendations, which call for physical distancing, barriers between desks and additional sanitization protocols.

“We strongly oppose any undermining of public health and safety,” APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, said in a news release. “Frankly, we are stunned at the administration’s lack of any forethought or concern about planning and implications for schools.”

## COVID-19, inequities linked, APHA testifies

Enacting sound public health strategies and confronting racism is necessary to tackle the unequal impact of COVID-19 and prepare for the next catastrophe, APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, told members of the House of Representatives in July 10 testimony.

Benjamin spoke virtually to the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery: COVID-19, calling for legislators to focus attention on the root causes of inequities from a societal perspective.

Several epidemics have unfolded simultaneously in the U.S. this year, Benjamin said. They has been an infodemic of misinformation and disinformation, and an epidemic of fear — “fear of the virus, the uncertainties around its spread and other unknown factors, and the poor and inconsistent risk communication from some political leaders.”

A number of studies highlight the disproportionate toll COVID-19 is taking on some minority populations. For example, Black Americans, who make up 13% of the U.S. population, account for 24% of COVID-19 deaths, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other studies have found that hospitalization rates for Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians and Alaska Natives are substantially higher than hospitalization rates for whites.

“This disparity in the impact of COVID-19 is not surprising in its presence, only in its scope,” Benjamin said. “We can address these disparities through sound public health strategies.”

Benjamin called on subcommittee members to increase public health funding during the crisis.

“A strong public health infrastructure and workforce is also essential to helping us reduce health inequities related to COVID-19 and other health threats,” Benjamin said. “To better ensure our public health infrastructure is adequately prepared for addressing the current pandemic, future pandemics and other public health emergencies, we must seriously look at fixing our vastly underfunded public health system.”

*To take action on public health, visit [www.apha.org/advocacy](http://www.apha.org/advocacy).*

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association