Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says the country isn’t ready for another pandemic, pointing to widespread suspicion, hatred and confusion surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Speaking last week during a Newsmaker luncheon in Milwaukee hosted by WisPolitics and the Milwaukee Press Club, Thompson noted the origins of the coronavirus are still shrouded in mystery more than four years after the pandemic began.
Thompson, a Republican, is the state’s longest-serving governor and also held the position of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President George W. Bush.
“In order to deal with a catastrophe, or an epidemic like COVID, you’ve got to have a strong majority of the people supporting the science,” he said. “And if the science has been proven incorrectly — and in some cases, it has since then — people become suspicious, very suspicious.”
He argued “there’s as much evidence that the masks didn’t do any help at all,” adding some wouldn’t don them again even if officials recommended doing so — himself included.
“That’s the problem, it’s the suspicion out there and the confusion out there as to whether or not we will be prepared for another epidemic,” he said.
When asked about former President Donald Trump’s comments while in office undermining public health messaging, Thompson said then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, was lying about nursing home COVID figures at the time. He argued “that probably did much more than what Trump did,” and said Trump was doing what he thought was right.
If another pandemic scenario were to arise, Thompson said he would have scientists reporting the latest findings and health guidance rather than elected officials.
“My strong suggestion in the future is to have the scientists … get it out to the public, and it’s unbiased and it’s accurate with scientific evidence backing it up, and then you’re going to get people to start believing you,” he said. “And that’s what we need to do in the future.”
