While some departures are normal, Ms. Freeman said many were “due to the pressures of this pandemic.” The association performs a census of the nation’s local health departments every three years, which includes questions about why officials left their roles.
“We largely found that they were due to just extensive pressure — elected official interference with public health measures, and really kind of efforts to diminish the authority of public health officials during the pandemic,” Ms. Freeman told CNN.
Some health officials also cited personal attacks through social media or radio ads against them or their family members as reasons for leaving their role.
Ms. Freeman said these losses are concerning, as health officials are difficult to replace at the local level.
“There’s not a bench that exists in health departments because they’ve been defunded for so long,” she told CNN. “So replacing that leadership is going to be a challenging job for us all.”
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