Your government at work, hiding important information

No comment — this is just another irritating story:

The worst outbreak of tuberculosis in Florida in 20 years was kept  hidden from the public for months.

In early February, Duval County Health Department officials were so worried about the surge in the number of cases that they asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to become involved. The health officials felt that if they informed the public, the public would avoid the homeless. “What you don’t want is for anyone to have another reason why people should turn their backs on the homeless,” said Charles Griggs, the public information officer for the Duval County Health Department. The health agency recommended that the A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana, where tough TB cases were treated, be closed six months ahead of scheduled.

Read the rest here.

I will say that, during my years in San Francisco, I always gave the homeless a wide berth, as I operated under two assumptions:  (1) they had lice; and (2) they had TB.  Nothing the government could hide would have changed my assumptions.