WNY Students First Calls on Mark Poloncarz to Demand the Resignation of Dr. Gale Burstein

​WNY Students First is calling on Mr. Poloncarz to demand the resignation of Dr. Gale Burstein for not fulfilling her obligation to protect the health and well-being of children in Erie County. Not only are the ECDOH policies directly harming school-aged children, they are doing absolutely nothing to slow the spread of Covid-19.
 
Over the past few weeks, representatives from several school districts in Erie County have reached out to WNY Students First to express their frustration with Dr. Burstein and what they see as a continued effort by the ECDOH to actively work against those schools that would like to reopen for the benefit of students.
 
Specifically, Dr. Burstein has apparently threatened those schools that plan on reopening at less than six feet of social distancing between students by stating that the ECDOH will quarantine all students and staff in a classroom or on a bus when there is a confirmed Covid-19 case. This is a highly abnormal policy that is not being followed in other areas and has no scientific merit.
 
The ECDOH school quarantine policy runs counter to the latest scientific research that clearly shows that transmission rates in schools are extremely low when masks are used, and conflicts with the recently updated CDC guidance, which defines a close contact as “someone who was within 6 feet of a person diagnosed with COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24 hour period.”
 
Despite the growing body of scientific evidence and the conservative CDC guidance, the ECDOH appears to be taking a much more aggressive and radical approach to quarantining students and staff members in schools. The sole purpose of this extreme policy can only be to keep schools closed, since it is not backed by science.
 
The latest effort by the ECDOH continues a disturbing pattern of overreach whereby the County has worked to prevent the safe reopening of schools in Erie County. In contrast with other counties in New York State, Dr. Burstein overruled the NYSDOH earlier this year by not allowing schools in Erie County to reopen at less than six feet of social distancing with the use of masks and barriers. In addition, the ECDOH has arbitrarily recommended that some schools in Erie County close even when health guidelines were being followed and there was no in-school transmission.
 
By any objective measure, these policies are not working. Erie County has had one of the highest transmission rates in the entire State. Indeed, the only thing that the ECDOH school policies have definitively accomplished is to set students behind academically and harm the mental health of many school-aged children.
 
In calling for Mr. Poloncarz to demand the resignation of Dr. Burstein, WNY Students First cites the following ECDOH actions and policies that run counter to public interests:

• The ECDOH is not following science. The latest scientific research, including studies from the CDC, clearly shows that transmission rates in schools are extremely low when masks are used. The much greater public health issue is the devastating impact that prolonged school closures are having on the health of children, particularly now that school staff have been vaccinated. In her efforts to prevent schools from reopening safely, Dr. Burstein is ignoring recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the World Health Organization, the Biden Administration, and the local medical community. 
• The ECDOH is not providing transparency regarding in-school transmission. Despite numerous requests from WNY Students First and members of the media, the ECDOH has not provided the public with the data that shows the number of cases resulting from student transmission in Erie County schools. The lack of transparency is eroding trust in our public institutions.
• Even worse, the ECDOH is misinforming the public about the safety of schools. By falsely labeling Covid-19 cases among student-aged children as “cases in schools,” despite the fact that very little transmission is actually occurring in schools, the ECDOH is intentionally creating more confusion and fear.
• The ECDOH is ignoring the growing mental health crisis among our youngest citizens. The County has not provided the public with any information regarding the impact of school closures on the mental health of children in the community, despite repeated warnings from pediatricians and doctors, and has done very little to help those kids that are suffering. The ECDOH stance toward schools and the mental health of children borders on medical malpractice and likely represents a breach of its obligations to the community.
• The ECDOH has not followed NYSDOH guidance and has continually overreached on schools. By recommending that schools not reopen at less than six feet of social distancing with the use of masks and barriers, as previously permitted by the NYSDOH, and by maintaining a quarantine policy for schools that does not reflect the updated NYSDOH and CDC guidelines, the ECDOH has in effect overruled the NYSDOH and the CDC in making it more difficult for schools to reopen.
• While children suffer, ECDOH officials continue to benefit financially from the pandemic. Despite being one of the highest-paid county health commissioners in New York State, Dr. Burstein is one of the only health commissioners in the entire State to receive payments for overtime. It is highly unusual for salaried managerial employees, especially those making over $200k, to receive overtime. Furthermore, Dr. Burstein received over $180k in overtime during 2020 alone. With a salary of over $380k in 2020, Dr. Burstein is paid 2-4x her peers in New York State and makes almost as much as Dr. Fauci. This unusual and dangerous compensation practice represents a material conflict of interests and may explain the overly restrictive policies being pursued by the ECDOH (the more time that the ECDOH spends on schools, the more money that ECDOH officials make).
• Dr. Burstein and the ECDOH are not fulfilling their obligation to protect the health and well-being of children in our community. There is absolutely no dispute that the ECDOH is harming the mental health of children by arbitrarily keeping schools closed. In addition, these policies are likely leading to higher transmission rates in school-aged children by keeping them out of schools, where transmission rates are much lower than in the community. Since the harmful effects of keeping children out of schools are now well understood, and since the scientific research clearly shows that schools are one of the lowest-risk environments for the spread of Covid-19, the continued efforts by the ECDOH to prevent schools from reopening likely represents a breach of its obligations and a potential ethics violation for those medical professionals within the ECDOH.

 
As County officials have noted previously, Erie County has indeed taken a very different approach than almost every other county in New York State with respect to schools. County health officials have enriched themselves through the unusual practice of paying overtime to salaried managers while making every effort to overrule the NYSDOH to keep schools closed and to mislead the public about the safety of schools.
 
The result: a growing mental health crisis for students, severe educational losses for children, and one of the highest transmission rates in the entire State.
 
It is time to recognize what everyone already knows, namely that not only are these policies not effective in reducing transmission rates in our community, they are unnecessarily harming children and costing taxpayers millions of dollars. As they say, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
 
WNY Students First is calling on County Executive Poloncarz to find new leadership for the ECDOH, and for the Health Department to redirect its efforts and financial resources to provide the support that so many children desperately need after more than a year of remote instruction.
 
Taxpayer funds should be going to help kids that have been left behind by the County during the pandemic, not to line the pocket book of Dr. Burstein. The community would be better served if this money instead went to the schools, teachers, doctors, and social workers that will be called upon to help repair the damage that the County officials, including Dr. Burstein, have helped create.
 
WNY Students First looks forward to hopefully working together with the County under new leadership at the ECDOH to help establish a more science-based, balanced, and collaborative process for reopening schools and supporting school-aged children with input from local doctors and all school district stakeholders, including students, parents, caregivers, and teachers.
 
WNY Students First