#barbara ferrer

With her MPH and doctorate in social welfare, Ferrer duly became health commissioner for Boston, then the chief strategy officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation which “supports children and families as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.” In 2017, Ferrer made the move west to Los Angeles County, home to 10 million residents, approximately the population of Sweden.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas pronounced Ferrer “uniquely qualified to lead and serve Los Angeles County’s diverse populations,” and the county granted her an annual salary of $376,635. Three years later Ferrer pulls down a cool $465,411, more than the official salary of the president of the United States. As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded and Garcetti locked down Los Angeles, it emerged that Ferrer was not a medical doctor. When some questioned her qualifications, Ferrer pushed back.

“This is a tough job for anybody to have to do,” Ferrer told reporters. “The one thing I do want to note is I don’t make decisions by myself. I have an amazing team of public health practitioners.” As residents might have noted, it’s not Los Angeles County that has the amazing team but Barbara Ferrer her own self. The unelected health boss clearly has a sense of her own power.

Last week, after Dr. Anthony Fauci argued for keeping the lockdown in place, Ferrer announced that absent “dramatic change to the virus” the county would continue its shutdown for the next three months. Mayor Garcetti chimed in with “longer than three months,” followed by the proclamation that Los Angeles would “never be completely open,” until we have a “cure.” That was the position of California Gov. Gavin Newsom who said on May 7 that California would not return to normal until a vaccine for COVID-19 was discovered. As many in California and across the country have noted, that marks a steep escalation from “flattening the curve.”