Public health as a discipline is extraordinarily important. For the longest time, I thought that the development of the discipline was one of the greatest achievements of Western Culture, and a distinguishing characteristic that divides civilized societies from those still climbing the ladder toward civilization.
From its outset in the modern West, public health practitioners developed as part of their code of ethics a dedication to transparency, and not just as part of an ethical code to which they were to adhere, but for practical reasons: in order to get the majority of people to comply with or follow public health advice, the advice must be perceived as trustworthy.
If it is seen as merely the dictates of an untrustworthy authority or as too political, people will resist and stop following the advice.
For much of the 20th century and part of this one, trust in public health authorities was far higher than trust in government institutions as a whole. Vaccination rates were remarkably high, with relatively few skeptics who were considered fringe, and the assumption was that the National Institutes of Health and NIAID were apolitical. Nobody assumed they were perfect, but most of us assumed they were driven by science and dedicated solely to implementing the best practices of the day.
The COVID hit, and the truth was laid bare. Public Health authorities are not scientists, in a pure sense, but people working in bureaucracies. And when the fecal matter hits the spinning blade, the entire room gets covered and smells.
Six years ago. This is when the public health apparatus lost its credibility. We were told it was too dangerous for kids to go to school, but not too dangerous for thousands of people to gather for the “right” cause. Feels like a fever dream. https://t.co/jZmb8WaZjl
— Billy Binion (@billybinion) June 3, 2026
I lost faith almost immediately, because I was following the “science” hour by hour. What I immediately noticed was the changing messages, the absolute certainty with which changing messages were communicated, and the utter lack of nuance that signaled dishonesty.
I read deeply into prior recommendations for pandemics, and noticed that none of them were being followed. I saw the propaganda about the origins of COVID; I read about furin cleavage sites, and about bioengineering and gain-of-function research. I saw the use of COVID to attack Donald Trump, and how recommendations varied based on contradicting Trump or other Republicans, and the strategic use of lockdowns to privilege large corporations over small businesses, the laptop class over the working class.
This was the moment that my trust in so-called “experts“ went to absolute zero https://t.co/fZ42Tz5VnQ
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) June 3, 2026
But I was steeped in it. Most people weren’t, and it seemed rational for them to trust the authorities over random folks on Twitter or Facebook. Normally it would be.
But then George Floyd happened, and a vast number of people saw the op. COVID spread when shopping, but not when you were in massive crowds burning things down. A temporary pandemic was far less important to public health than mass riots.
I saved this for a rainy day. Today is that day pic.twitter.com/uHhpwa87CN
— Marky Mark (@MarkyMa11373784) June 3, 2026
It literally made no sense. Ordinary people could look at the fact that they couldn’t do normal things, or even attend a funeral or say goodbye to grandma as she passed, but thousands of people rioting was VITAL to public health, as if racism, whether real or a fantasy, would be eradicated by riots.
People couldn’t have a funeral for their son or daughter, but George Floyd had one in a Cathedral surrounded by thousands to pay homage.
Nuzzo was a coauthor of the 2006 paper that argued that quarantines and school closures were not worth the costs. So she was in fact consistent here, just very selectively consistent.https://t.co/HWEWVvCAN4 https://t.co/ex8GtwWs1K
— Michael S. Kochin 🗑️ מיכאל קוצ’ין (@mskochin) June 3, 2026
That was “public health.” It wasn’t politicians overriding public health officials. Public health officials signed letters, sent tweets, went on TV, and promoted this absurd idea.
“Racism is a public health crisis,” we were told, which in itself seems absurd. But the fact that doctors and Ph.D.s who were charged with explaining how we should avoid death were telling us that gathering in crowds to shout, loot, and burn things down would solve racism was a bridge too far for even people far less skeptical than I.
But it happened, and public health has not been the same, and the officials who did that wonder why nobody but deep Blue Democrats trust them. They blame Trump, or MAGA, or RFK, Jr. But the truth is that they proved themselves untrustworthy.
So smart people don’t trust them. Simple.
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