Informed health decisions reduce sickness

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Nobody likes getting sick. Picture this: you go to a grocery store to pick up a salad for lunch, and the next day, you are faced with a nasty stomach bug. Now you have to call out sick from work, using your precious sick days, you have to cancel the plans that you had with your friends for the weekend, and you have to figure out how you are going to take care of yourself while facing the worst gastrointestinal problems you’ve ever felt. Becoming sick disrupts your productivity, inconvenience increases, and how you go about your life can completely change for a few days, weeks, or even longer. 

This summer, I worked at a division of the New York State Department of Health as a Public Health Inspector. About halfway through the summer, my email became flooded with information regarding a listeria outbreak in deli meats. Scientific researchers J. Macleod, M. Beeton, and J. Blaxland explain that Listeriosis is a sickness caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which, when ingested, can cause unwanted stomach issues including nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. 

While symptoms can be harmful for everyone infected with listeria, those who are elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised are the most at risk for hospitalization or death when infected. Listeria has an approximate 20 percent mortality rate, with 63 percent of pregnant women infected experiencing stillborn births or miscarriages. 

Rapid communication between federal and state health agencies during this crisis ensured most people the possibility to know which deli meats to avoid when shopping for their weekly meals. In addition, the businesses we inspected over the summer that used these deli meats were ordered to stop using them to decrease the risk of their patrons becoming ill. When people are aware of food contamination, they avoid buying and consuming that food in order to decrease the risk of illness. Why? Because people don’t like getting sick! 

The public, however, may not have the privilege of knowing life-saving information about listeria outbreaks now. In President Trump’s first few days in office, the administration issued an order mandating all federal health agencies to halt communications to the public until Feb. 1. After Feb. 1, a president-appointed leader of the Department of Health and Human Services was tasked with approving further communications. 

In health crises, people require immediate and accurate information to make informed decisions. If communication between health agencies and the public hadn’t occurred during the listeria outbreaks in the summer of 2024, a lot more people would have bought or consumed contaminated deli meat due to not knowing the health risk they were at, and a lot more people would have gotten sick, potentially hospitalized, or died. For example, during the communication pause, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s weekly list of listeria-contaminated foods was not updated, potentially causing people to unknowingly purchase or consume foods that may be contaminated. 

Listeria is not the only disease that could spread more easily due to the lack of communication with the public. The public heavily relies on federal health agency communication regarding guidelines in preventing and managing diseases such as measles and COVID-19. For example, a measles outbreak in Texas, has caused uncertainty for those affected. Measles is a highly contagious, airborne disease that the United States has not had to worry much about, as it was considered eliminated in 2000 due to high vaccination rates. 

With over 520 cases of measles and three deaths due to these infections, society should become educated on what measles is, the signs and symptoms, and how to treat it. Without federal health agencies being able to provide this information to the public, uncertainty and chaos have the potential to grow. With the summer approaching, many children from all over the country will gather at children’s camps, in summer sports, and at other venues, potentially increasing the risk of transmission of diseases. 

The health of our country as a whole could decrease tremendously if people are not given the information needed to make informed decisions about their health. People could become sick more easily, spread illness to others more easily, and not know the steps to take after becoming ill. 

Even though communications are no longer halted, your health could still be at risk because the Director of the Health and Human Services can approve or reject what information is shared with the public. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. is a known anti-vaccination advocate and does not have a background in science or public health. 

In a recent Opinion Editorial, Kennedy Jr. wrote for Fox News regarding recent measles outbreaks, he states, “good nutrition remains the best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses.” His hesitancy to state that the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine is the best defense against measles, especially when most of those infected in Texas are unvaccinated, is telling of his beliefs. 

After two deaths in Texas due to measles, Kennedy Jr. finally recognized the importance of vaccines in preventing measles: “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” he stated. 

This is a step in a positive direction toward the promotion of public health, but RFK Jr.’s past claims warrant skepticism and continuing vigilance. We take our cars to garages with expert mechanics, our children to doctors with medical degrees, and our taxes to certified public accountants. In the same sense, we need to be able to trust experts in science and public health to disseminate information to keep ourselves and others healthy. 

Kennedy Jr.’s control over what is shared with the public regarding health, based on his beliefs, and not necessarily science-supported ones, could leave this country uninformed and more vulnerable to sickness. His declaration of the current measles outbreak as being “not unusual” downplays its effects, and his hesitation to promote the MMR vaccine goes to show his unwillingness to communicate the information that is most important when it comes to health crises. 

Federal health agency communication can save us from getting a bad bout of illness because we will know what is happening and how to protect ourselves. So, the next time this administration rolls out policies regarding public health information and communication to the public, keep in mind your pregnant daughter, your dad with cancer, your elderly grandparents, and how they will be affected by the lack of life-saving information disseminated to them due to these policies. 

If that doesn’t cut it for you, think about yourself! With the possibility of new policies regarding public health coming out over the rest of President Trump’s term, please consider reaching out to your congressional representatives and voicing your concerns over public health communication. You can do your part to ensure direct communication from health agencies like the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and support for health inspectors by voicing your concern about your health. 

This Opinion Editorial was reviewed by Dr. Betsy Hutchison, Associate Professor of Biology at SUNY Geneseo, and by a public health professional working in environmental health.