Public health workers fighting virus face growing threats

Emily Brown was stretched thin. As director of Rio Grande County Public Health Department in rural Coloro, she was working 12- and 14-hour days, struggling to respond to pandemic with only five full-time employees for more than 11,000 residents. Case counts were rising.

She was alrey at odds with county commissioners, who were pushing to loosen public health restrictions in late May, against her vice. She h previously clashed with m over data releases and control and h haggled over a variance regarding reopening businesses.

But she reasoned that standing up for public health principles was worth it, even if she risked losing job that allowed her to live close to her hometown and help her parents with ir farm.

n came Facebook post: a photo of her and or health officials with comments about ir weight and references to “armed citizens” and “bodies swinging from trees.”

commissioners h asked her to meet with m next day. She intended to ask m for more support. Inste, she was fired.

“y finally were tired of me t going along line y wanted me to go along,” she said.

In battle against COVID-19, public health workers spre across states, cities and small towns make up an invisible army on front lines. But that army, which has suffered neglect for deces, is under assault when it’s needed most.

Officials who usually work behind scenes managing tasks like immunizations and water quality inspections have found mselves center st. Elected officials and members of public who are frustrated with lockdowns and safety restrictions have at times turned public health workers into politicized punching bags, battering m with countless angry calls and even physical threats.

On Thursday, Ohio’s state health director, who h armed protesters come to her house, resigned. health officer for Orange County, California,

As pressure and scrutiny rise, many more health officials have chosen to leave or have been pushed out of ir jobs. A review by Kaiser Health News and Associated Press finds at least 27 state and local health leers have resigned, retired or been fired since April across 13 states.

From rth Caolina to California, y have left ir posts because of a mix of backlash and stressful, nstop work, all while dealing with chronic staffing and funding shorts.

Some health officials have t been up to job during biggest health crisis in a century. Ors previously h plans to leave or cited ir own health issues.

But Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of National Association of County and City Health Officials, said majority of what she calls an “alarming” exodus resulted from increasing pressure as states reopen. Three of those 27 were members of her board and well kwn in public health community — Rio Grande County’s Brown; Detroit’s senior public health viser, Dr. Kanzoni Asabigi; and he of rth Carolina’s Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services, Chris Dobbins.

Asabigi’s sudden retirement, considering his stature in public health community, shocked Freeman. She also was upset to hear about departure of Dobbins, who was chosen as health director of year for rth Carolina in 2017. Asabigi and Dobbins did t reply to requests for comment.

“y just don’t leave like that,” Freeman said.

Public health officials are “really getting tired of ongoing pressures and blame game,” Freeman said. She warned that more departures could be expected in coming days and weeks as political pressure trickles down from federal to state to local level.

From beginning of coronavirus pandemic, federal public health officials have complained of being sidelined or

In Hawaii, Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard called on goverr to fire his top public health officials, saying she believed y were too slow on testing, contact tracing and travel restrictions. In Wisconsin, several Republican lawmakers have repeatedly demanded that state’s health services secretary resign, and state’s conservative Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that she h exceeded her authority by extending a stay-at-home order.

With increased public scrutiny, security details — like those seen on a federal level for Dr. Anthony Fauci, top infectious-disease expert — have been assigned to top state health officials, including Georgia’s Dr. Kathleen Toomey after she was threatened. Ohio’s Dr. Amy Acton, who also h a security detail assigned after armed protesters showed up at her home, resigned Thursday.

In Orange County, in late May, nearly 100 people attended a county supervisors meeting, waiting hours to speak against an order requiring face coverings. One person suggested that order might make it necessary to invoke Second Amendment rights to bear arms, while ar re aloud home dress of order’s author, county’s chief health officer, Dr. Nichole Quick, as well as name of her boyfriend.

Quick, attending by phone, left meeting. In a statement, sheriff’s office later said Quick h expressed concern for her safety following “several threatening statements both in public comment and online.” She was given personal protection by sheriff.

But Monday, after yet ar public meeting that included criticism from members of board of supervisors, Quick resigned. She could t be reached for comment. Earlier, county’s deputy director of public health services, David Souleles, retired abruptly.

An official in ar California county also has been given a security detail, said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of Health Officers Association of California, declining to name county or official because threats have t been me public.

Many local health leers, accustomed to relative anymity as y work to protect public’s health, have been shocked by growing threats, said resa Anselmo, executive director of Coloro Association of Local Public Health Officials.

After polling local health directors across state at a meeting last month, Anselmo found about 80% said y or ir personal property h been threatened since pandemic began. About 80% also said y’d encountered threats to pull funding from ir department or or forms of political pressure.

To Anselmo, ugly politics and threats are a result of politicization of pandemic from start. So far in Coloro, six top local health officials have retired, resigned or been fired. A handful of state and local health department staff members have left as well, she said.

“It’s just appalling that in this country that spends as much as we do on health care that we’re facing se really difficult ethical dilemmas: Do I stay in my job and risk threats, or do I leave because it’s t worth it?” Anselmo asked.

In California, senior health officials from seven counties, including Quick and Souleles, have resigned or retired since March 15. Dr. Charity Dean, second in command at state Department of Public Health, submitted her resignation June 4. Burut seems to be contributing to many of those decisions, DeBurgh said.

In dition to harm to current officers, DeBurgh is worried about impact se events will have on recruiting people into public health leership.

“It’s disheartening to see people who disagree with order go from attacking order to attacking officer to questioning ir motivation, expertise and patriotism,” said DeBurgh. “That’s t something that should ever happen.”

Some of online abuse has been going on for years, said Bill Sok, a spokesperson for  health department in Kansas City, Missouri. He has seen instances in which people took a health inspector’s name and me a meme out of it, or said a health worker should be strung up or killed. He said opponents of vaccinations, kwn as anti-vaxxers, have called staffers “baby killers.”

pandemic, though, has brought such behavior to ar level.

In Ohio, Delaware General Health District has h two lockdowns since pandemic began — one after an angry individual came to health department. Fortunately, doors were locked, said Dustin Kent, program manr for department’s residential services unit.

Angry calls over contact tracing continue to pour in, Kent said.

In Coloro, Tri-County Health Department, which serves ams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties near Denver, has also been getting hundreds of calls and emails from frustrated citizens, deputy director Jennifer Ludwig said.

Some have been angry ir businesses could t open and blamed health department for depriving m of ir livelihood. Ors were furious with neighbors who were t wearing masks outside. It’s a constant wave of “confusion and angst and anxiety and anger,” she said.

n in April and May, rocks were thrown at one of ir office’s windows —

Although police determined re was imminent threat, Ludwig stressed how proud she was of her staff, who weared pressure while working round--clock.

“It does wear on you, but at same time, we kw what we need to do to keep moving to keep our community safe,” she said. “Despite complaints, grievances, threats, vandalism — staff have really excelled and stood up.”

threats didn’t end re, however: Someone asked on health department’s Facebook p how many people would like to kw home dresses of Tri-County Health Department leership. “You want to make this a war??? problem,” poster wrote.

Back in Coloro’s Rio Grande County, some members of community have rallied in support of Brown with

Brown is grappling with what she should do next: Dive back into ar strenuous public health job in a pandemic or take a moment to recoup?

When she told her 6-year-old son she longer h a job, he responded: “Good, w you can spend more time with us.”