Public health officials face growing threats
Emily Brown was thin.
As director of the Rio Grande County Public Health Department in rural Colorado, she was working 14-hour days, struggling to respond to the coronavirus pandemic with only five full-time employees for 11,000 residents. Case counts were rising.
She was at odds with county commissioners, who were pushing to loosen public health restrictions in late May, against her advice. But she reasoned standing up for public health principles was worth it, even if she risked losing the job that allowed her to live close to her hometown.
Then came the Facebook post: a photo of Brown (inset) and other health officials with comments about “armed citizens” and “bodies swinging from trees.”
The commissioners had asked her to meet with them the next day. She intended to ask them for more support. Instead, she was fired.
“They finally were tired of me not going along the line they wanted me to go along,” she said.
In the battle against COVID-19, public health workers spread across states, cities and small towns make up an invisible army on the front lines. But that army is under assault when it’s needed most.
Officials who usually work behind the scenes have found themselves center stage. Elected officials and members of the public frustrated with lockdowns and safety restrictions stretched have turned public health workers into politicized punching bags, battering them with angry calls and threats.
On Thursday, Ohio’s health director, who had armed protesters go to her house, resigned. The health officer for Orange County, California, quit after criticism and personal threats over an order requiring face coverings in public.
As pressure rises, more officials have chosen to leave or been pushed out. A review by Kaiser Health News and AP finds at least 27 state and local health leaders have resigned, retired or been fired since April across 13 states.
From North Carolina to California, they’ve left due to a mix of backlash and stressful working conditions, all while dealing with staffing and funding shortages. Some health officials haven’t been up to the job during the biggest health crisis in a century. Others previously had plans to leave or cited their own health issues.
But Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, said most of the exodus resulted from increasing pressure as states reopen.
Back in Colorado’s Rio Grande County, COVID-19 case counts jumped from 14 to 49 as of Wednesday.
Brown grapples with what she should do next: dive back into another strenuous public health job in a pandemic or take a moment to recoup?
When she told her 6-year-old son she no longer had a job, he responded: “Good — now you can spend more time with us.”