(ETH) – A divided San Diego County Board of Supervisors has voted to adopt what is believed to be a first-in-the-nation policy of declaring COVID-19 misinformation a public health crisis and adopt a series of recommendations to actively combat it.
According to ABC 10 News, “Combating health misinformation needs to start on the ground, in counties and cities across our nation,” said Board Chairman Nathan Fletcher, who authored the policy. “San Diego County took the first step by becoming the first local jurisdiction in the country to align its policies with the U.S. surgeon general’s recommendations to fight health misinformation.
Health misinformation is a national crisis and it requires all of us to fight against it together.” Tuesday night’s vote was 3-2, with Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson voting no. The final result came after hours of debate featuring testimony from hundreds of residents, many who opposed the measure.
Fletcher characterized them as “mostly right-wing, anti-vaxxers.” 7 San Diego reported that According to San Diego County public health officials, the policy comes as 83.7% of the county’s COVID-19 cases are amongst people who are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Since March 2021, 96.7% of the hospitalizations in San Diego County related to COVID-19 have involved people who are not fully vaccinated, the county added. The vote came hours after much public testimony from people who oppose COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks.
