Texas health experts want a study of the state’s COVID-19 response before the next crisis

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

John Hellerstedt, former Texas Department of State Health Services commissioner, said the state needs to make a more significant effort to study its response to the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare for the next crisis.

Hellerstedt, along with public health advocates and officials in Central Texas gathered Wednesday at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Austin for an event hosted by The Texas Tribune to discuss whether, five years after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the state is better prepared for the next public health crisis.

“We need to look back at the pandemic the way war colleges look at wars, Hellerstedt said. “They look at every aspect of it, not just arms and armament, but leadership and economics and all those measures. And we need to do that with the pandemic if we are going to be prepared for the next inevitable emergency.”

Texas entered the COVID-19 pandemic already at a disadvantage, with an unhealthy and uninsured population, an underfunded public health system, and workforce shortages spread across the health care system.

However, David Lakey, vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer of the University of Texas System, said Texas came out the other side reasonably well considering its state's challenges with size and population.

“When I was commissioner, one of the things I realized was that there would be one event of national consequence per year in the state of Texas. You can see it with Ebola, West Nile virus, swine flu, hurricanes,” Lakey said. “Disaster management is all about bringing the key players together, and we did that better than some other places because of our expertise.”

Nonetheless, many of the challenges Texas faced before the pandemic remain today. The state’s spending on public health funding is worse than before the pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy is surging while measles spreads in West Texas. Growing distrust of local health officials and science has unraveled any lessons learned from the COVID pandemic.

“One of the main issues is trust. Do you trust the messenger who is providing the information?” said Lakey.

Measles is the first real test of the state’s public health since the COVID-19 pandemic, and so far, Texas has been unable to contain the spread. The Centers for Disease Control classifies the situation in West Texas as a measles outbreak, and Lakey believes it will only worsen.

“I think the Mennonite community is larger than many thought, and I hear stories from colleagues in the medical profession that are of significant concern — people with clear signs of the disease walking around and working,” Lakey said. “It’s hard to control one of the most contagious infectious diseases in a community that doesn’t understand how consequential this virus can be.”

Signs show that any other public health disaster will be greeted the same way due to trust issues, and because of this, Hellerstedt believes it is time to think outside the box.

“We need a system of influencers who are trusted voices in the community and give us a real, grounded truth about these diseases and vaccines,” he said, adding that influencers are incentivized currently to spread scary and controversial views to garner an audience.

Disclosure: University of Texas System has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

---

We can’t wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.

Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.