As COVID surged at state hospital, chief medical officer panned school COVID precautions

PROVIDENCE — The chief medical officer of Rhode Island's troubled state hospital — who returned to the hospital after a stint in the Trump administration — has emerged as a darling of the Republican right.

Elinore McCance-Katz's views on the damaging effects that she says masking, school closings and "social isolation" during the pandemic have had on children are making the GOP rounds.

A video snippet of her appearance before a U.S. House Committee last week was posted by @RNCresearch on Twitter. As of Monday, it had drawn more than 16,400 views.

Dr. Elinore F. McCance-Katz brought back as chief medical officer for state hospital

Echoing a national GOP attack line against Democrats, the tweet itself says: "Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a psychologist and expert in mental health, says masks are leaving children with verbal, motor, and cognitive 'deficits'."

For the record: @RNCResearch says it is managed by the Republican National Committee for the purpose of "exposing the lies, hypocrisy, and failed far-left policies of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party."

On Jan. 6, McCance-Katz, who is actually a psychiatrist and not a psychologist, appeared on "The Seth Leibsohn Show'' on a radio station called "960 The Patriot."

On a broadcast, aired on the anniversary of the January 6 siege of the nation's Capitol, she lamented the COVID "hysteria" being perpetrated by "many different media outlets about the virus."

"There are people that are picking and choosing the science that Americans are given access to," she said.

"What I mean by that is there are many studies that show the detrimental effects of children not being in school."

"We also know that there were many schools that did stay open — not our public schools but other schools that did stay open in the pandemic and we did not see huge outbreaks of COVID in these schools."

"It's really very unfortunate that we're at a point now in the pandemic where we have a virus but it is far less virulent, far less lethal than the previous Delta and the original COVID-19 coronavirus.

"We've got treatments.... We've got vaccinations. We've got boosters. We've got many ways to mitigate the risk and the negative effects of this virus and we need to learn to live with it because it's not going anywhere. This will be with us just like flu ... and we have to get on with our lives.

"We need to stop the hysteria and start taking care of our families," she said. "I wish my message could have been heard a year ago."

"Doctor, it is a privilege and an honor to all welcome you back to the show," her talk show host said.

He also said he was glad that McCance-Katz, the Trump-era assistant secretary of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was no longer in a public position at the national level so that she could speak freely.

Dr. McCance-Katz is in a pivotal position in the public agency that runs the state's Eleanor Slater Hospital.

COVID cases at Eleanor Slater Hospital

A month ago, one in four patients tested positive for COVID during a 10-day stretch that overlapped her "Patriot" radio interview, after ESH alone — out of all the hospitals in R.I. — knowingly allowed COVID-positive employees to work.

Asked if McCance-Katz had been given the go-ahead to argue GOP talking points in venues outside Rhode Island, a spokesman for the state's Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals said:

"Dr. McCance-Katz is a nationally known expert and is free to share her views on her own time."

Lapses at state hospital reached 'level of immediate jeopardy'

Asked about her answers to questions posed by U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., in the exchange, which were then highlighted by the Republican National Committee on Twitter, the BHDDH spokesman, Randal Edgar, said:

"Dr. McCance-Katz was one of several witnesses who testified Thursday, Feb. 17, before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She was not speaking on behalf of BHDDH or the State."

Asked if the tweet accurately reflects McCance-Katz' views, the spokesman said: "Dr. McCance-Katz recalls at least one study showing that children born during the pandemic had significant developmental/cognitive issues relative to children born prior to the pandemic."

The national GOP spotlight on her stances comes at a time of crisis in the state hospital she runs in Rhode Island.

New allegations of patient abuse at RI state hospital

Just last week, a disability rights organization issued a scathing account of a contraband search by a dozen or so state correctional officers in the psychiatric wing of the Slater hospital.

Video images from a surveillance tape Disability Rights Rhode Island obtained last week after a months-long fight for it, allegedly show the prison guards stepping over a frail older man, "lying on the floor, in apparent distress, wearing no clothing other than boxer shorts and socks."

DRRI said the "alarming video of the December 10, 2021 search ... reflects a deeply concerning culture at ESH, and indicates that patients with disabilities are at continual risk of abuse and/or neglect by ESH staff ... acting on orders of ESH/BHDDH leadership."

But Edgar, spokesman for the BHDDH, said: "DRRI's conclusion that the search involved "highly inappropriate and what appear to be acts of abuse" ignores the professional and courteous manner in which the DOC officers conducted themselves."

McCance-Katz holds advanced degrees from Yale and earned her medical degree from the University of Connecticut in 1987.

McCance-Katz held several titles before her first tour of duty at the Eleanor Slater Hospital in 2015.

Less than two years later, then-President Donald Trump nominated her as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use in the federal Department of Human Services.