The public health system of the United States received modest financial supplies for many years, leaving them lacking resources when Covid-19 appeared.

Since 2010, spending on state public health departments has decreased by 16% per capita and spending on smaller health agencies has decreased by 18%, the AP stated their analysis results and KHN in the article.

Public health ranks low on the country's financial priority list.

Public health workers receive meager wages, making some people even low-income to qualify for public aid.

Nearly half of public health workers plan to retire or quit in the next 5 years and low wages are the top reason.

The number of personnel in the public health system has plummeted.

Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in April that his biggest regret was "the country has not invested effectively in public health for decades.

This year, the federal government allocated billions of dollars to public health to cope with the pandemic, including more than $ 13 billion for state and local health departments, to track exposure and curb infection.

In most states, the new budget year begins July 1.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, Michigan has cut a fifth of state health workers' working hours.

According to Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC, it was surprising that the United States gave public health workers a break from work during a pandemic.

"This is about protecting Americans," Frieden said.