Una revisión de KHN encontró que, desde que comenzó la pandemia, legisladores en los 50 estados han propuesto proyectos de ley para frenar estos poderes. Al menos 26 aprobaron leyes que debilitan permanentemente la autoridad del gobierno para proteger la salud pública. En otros tres, una orden ejecutiva, una iniciativa de votación o un limitaron los poderes de salud pública que existían desde hace mucho tiempo.

En Arkansas, los legisladores excepto en empresas privadas o entornos de atención médica administrados por el estado, calificándolos de “una carga para la paz pública, la salud y la seguridad de los ciudadanos de este estado”. En Idaho, comisionados de los condados, que normalmente no tienen experiencia en el tema, pueden en todo el condado. Y en y , las juntas escolares son las que tienen el poder de cerrar las escuelas, no los funcionarios de salud.

El presidente Joe Biden anunció el jueves 9 de septiembre amplios mandatos de vacunación y otras medidas sobre covid, diciendo que se vio obligado a actuar en parte debido a estas legislaciones. Como ejemplo:

• En al menos 16 estados, los legisladores han limitado el poder de los funcionarios de salud pública para ordenar mandatos sobre el uso de cubrebocas, cuarentenas o aislamientos. En algunos casos, se otorgaron a sí mismos o a políticos locales la autoridad para prevenir la propagación de enfermedades infecciosas.
• Al menos 17 estados aprobaron leyes que prohíben los pasaportes de vacunación o los mandatos para vacunarse, o facilitaron eludir los requisitos de vacunas.
• Al menos nueve estados tienen nuevas leyes que prohíben o limitan los mandatos del uso de máscaras. En cinco más, órdenes ejecutivas o fallos judiciales limitan estos requisitos.

Gran parte de esta legislación ha estado entrando en vigencia a medida que las hospitalizaciones por covid en algunas áreas están aumentando a sus números más altos desde que comenzó la pandemia.

“Realmente podríamos ver a más personas enfermas, heridas, hospitalizadas o incluso más muertes, dependiendo de lo extremo de la legislación y la restricción de la autoridad”, dijo , directora de la National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Académicos de salud pública y funcionarios están frustrados porque ellos mismos, en lugar del virus, se han convertido en el enemigo. Argumentan que estas acciones tendrán consecuencias que durarán mucho más allá de esta pandemia, disminuyendo no solo su capacidad para combatir la última oleada de covid sino también futuros brotes de enfermedades.

"Es como tener las manos atadas en medio de una pelea de boxeo", dijo Kelley Vollmar, directora ejecutiva del del condado de Jefferson en Missouri.

Pero defensores de los nuevos límites dicen que son un control necesario de los poderes ejecutivos y que les dan a los legisladores una voz durante emergencias que duran mucho tiempo. El senador estatal de Arkansas , republicano que copatrocinó el exitoso proyecto de ley de su estado para prohibir los mandatos de máscaras, dijo que estaba tratando de reflejar el deseo de la gente.

“Lo que la gente de Arkansas quiere es que la decisión quede en sus manos, en ellos y en sus familias”, dijo Garner. "Es hora de quitarles el poder a los llamados expertos, cuyas ideas han sido lamentablemente inadecuadas".

Después de firmar inicialmente el proyecto de ley, el gobernador republicano Asa Hutchinson expresó su descontento y convocó a una sesión legislativa extraordinaria a principios de agosto para pedir a los legisladores que establecieran una excepción para las escuelas. Rechazaron el pedido. La ley está actualmente que la consideró inconstitucional. Más batallas legales se están desarrollando en otros estados.

La legislatura de Montana aprobó algunas de las , limitando severamente los poderes de salud pública para decretar cuarentenas y aislamientos, de los funcionarios locales por sobre las juntas de salud, impidiendo límites a las y , incluso en entornos de atención médica, exigir vacunas contra covid, la gripe o cualquier otra cosa.

La pérdida de la capacidad para ordenar cuarentenas ha dejado a Karen Sullivan, oficial de salud del departamento de Butte-Silver Bow de Montana, aterrorizada por lo que vendrá, no solo durante esta pandemia sino también por futuros brotes de sarampión.

"Confiar en la moralidad y la buena voluntad no es una buena práctica de salud pública", dijo.

Freeman dijo que el grupo de funcionarios de salud de su ciudad y condado tiene poca influencia y recursos, especialmente en comparación con el (ALEC), un grupo conservador respaldado por corporaciones que promovió modelo para restringir los poderes de emergencia de los gobernadores y otros funcionarios.

El proyecto de ley parece haber inspirado a docenas de otros a nivel estatal, según la revisión de KHN. Al menos 15 estados aprobaron leyes que limitan los poderes de emergencia. En algunos, los gobernadores ya no pueden ordenar mandatos de uso de máscaras, y los legisladores pueden revocar sus órdenes ejecutivas.

Las nuevas leyes están destinadas a reducir el poder de los gobernadores y restablecer el equilibrio entre los poderes ejecutivos y legislativos de los estados, dijo Jonathon Hauenschild, director del grupo de trabajo de ALEC sobre comunicaciones y tecnología. “A los gobernadores se los elige, pero delegaban mucha autoridad en el funcionario de salud pública, al que generalmente ellos mismos habían designado”, dijo Hauenschild.

Cuando la legislatura de Indiana para aprobar un proyecto de ley que daba a los comisionados del condado el poder de revisar las órdenes de salud pública, el doctor David Welsh, el oficial de salud pública en el condado rural de Ripley, quedó devastado.

De inmediato, la gente dejó de llamarlo para denunciar violaciones a las normas de covid. Fue "como apagar un interruptor de luz", dijo Welsh.

Está considerando renunciar. Si lo hace, se unirá a los cerca de 303 líderes de salud pública que ya se han retirado, renunciado o han sido despedidos desde que comenzó la pandemia, según un análisis en curso de KHN y AP. Eso significa que 1 de cada 5 estadounidenses ha perdido a un líder de salud local en ese tiempo.

“Esto es un golpe mortal” para el campo de la salud pública, dijo , director ejecutivo de la Beaumont Foundation, que aboga por la salud pública.

Los grupos de salud pública esperan una legislación más combativa.

El ex senador estatal demócrata de Oregon dijo que algunos de los políticos de hoy pueden llegar a lamentar estas leyes.

Fawbush fue uno de los patrocinadores de la que 32 años después significa que Oregon no puede exigir que los trabajadores de salud se vacunen contra covid. Fawbush calificó la producción de leyes como un "negocio caótico" y dijo que no habría impulsado el proyecto de ley si hubiera sabido lo que iba a significar ahora.

La reportera de datos de KHN Hannah Recht, la corresponsal de Montana Katheryn Houghton y la escritora de Associated Press Michelle R. Smith colaboraron con este informe.

 Esta historia es parte de una colaboración entre The Associated Press y KHN. Para comunicarse con el equipo de investigación de AP, envíe un correo electrónico a investigative@ap.org.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

A KHN review of hundreds of pieces of legislation found that, in all 50 states, legislators have proposed bills to curb such public health powers since the covid-19 pandemic began. While some governors vetoed bills that passed, at least 26 states pushed through laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health. In three additional states, an executive order, ballot initiative or limited long-held public health powers. More bills are pending in a handful of states whose legislatures are still in session.

In Arkansas, legislators except in private businesses or state-run health care settings, calling them “a burden on the public peace, health, and safety of the citizens of this state.” In Idaho, county commissioners, who typically have no public health expertise, . And in and , school boards, rather than health officials, have the power to close schools.

President Joe Biden last Thursday announced sweeping vaccination mandates and other covid measures, saying he was forced to act partly because of such legislation: “My plan also takes on elected officials in states that are undermining you and these lifesaving actions.”

All told:

• In at least 16 states, legislators have limited the power of public health officials to order mask mandates, or quarantines or isolation. In some cases, they gave themselves or local elected politicians the authority to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
• At least 17 states passed laws banning covid vaccine mandates or passports, or made it easier to get around vaccine requirements.
• At least nine states have new laws banning or limiting mask mandates. Executive orders or a court ruling limit mask requirements in five more.

Much of this legislation takes effect as covid hospitalizations in some areas are climbing to the highest numbers at any point in the pandemic, and children are back in school.

“We really could see more people sick, hurt, hospitalized or even die, depending on the extremity of the legislation and curtailing of the authority,” said , head of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Public health academics and officials are frustrated that they, instead of the virus, have become the enemy. They argue this will have consequences that last long beyond this pandemic, diminishing their ability to fight the latest covid surge and future disease outbreaks, such as being able to quarantine people during a measles outbreak.

“It’s kind of like having your hands tied in the middle of a boxing match,” said Kelley Vollmar, executive director of the Jefferson County Health Department in Missouri.

But proponents of the new limits say they are a necessary check on executive powers and give lawmakers a voice in prolonged emergencies. Arkansas state Sen. , a Republican who co-sponsored his state’s to ban mask mandates, said he was trying to reflect the will of the people.

“What the people of Arkansas want is the decision to be left in their hands, to them and their family,” Garner said. “It’s time to take the power away from the so-called experts, whose ideas have been woefully inadequate.”

After initially signing the bill, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed regret, calling a special legislative session in early August to ask lawmakers to carve out an exception for schools. They declined. The law is by an Arkansas judge who deemed it unconstitutional. Legal battles are ongoing in other states as well.

A Deluge of Bills

In Ohio, legislators to overturn health orders and . In and , schools cannot require masks. In Alabama, state and local governments and schools cannot require covid vaccinations.

Montana’s legislature passed some of the most restrictive laws of all, powers, increasing local elected officials’ over local health boards, preventing limits on and — including in health care settings — from requiring vaccinations for covid, the flu or anything else.

Legislators there also passed : If jurisdictions add public health rules stronger than state public health measures, they could lose 20% of some grants.

Losing the ability to order quarantines has left Karen Sullivan, health officer for Montana’s Butte-Silver Bow department, terrified about what’s to come — not only during the covid pandemic but for future measles and whooping cough outbreaks.

“In the midst of delta and other variants that are out there, we’re quite frankly a nervous wreck about it,” Sullivan said. “Relying on morality and goodwill is not a good public health practice.”

While some public health officials tried to fight the national wave of legislation, the underfunded public health workforce was consumed by trying to implement the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history and had little time for political action.

Freeman said her city and county health officials’ group has meager influence and resources, especially in comparison with the , a corporate-backed conservative group that promoted a model to restrict the emergency powers of governors and other officials. The draft legislation appears to have inspired dozens of state-level bills, according to the KHN review. At least 15 states passed laws limiting emergency powers. In some states, governors can no longer institute mask mandates or close businesses, and their executive orders can be overturned by legislators.

When North Dakota’s legislative session began in January, a long slate of bills sought to rein in public health powers, including one with language similar to ALEC’s. The state didn’t have a health director to argue against the new limits because three had resigned in 2020.

Fighting the bills not only took time, but also seemed dangerous, said Renae Moch, public health director for Bismarck, who testified against a measure . She then received an onslaught of hate mail and demands for her to be fired.

Lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to pass the bill into law. The North Dakota legislature also banned businesses from asking whether patrons are vaccinated against or and .

The new laws are meant to reduce the power of governors and restore the balance of power between states’ executive branches and legislatures, said Jonathon Hauenschild, director of the ALEC task force on communications and technology. “Governors are elected, but they were delegating a lot of authority to the public health official, often that they had appointed,” Hauenschild said.

‘Like Turning Off a Light Switch’

When the Indiana legislature to pass a bill that gave county commissioners the power to review public health orders, it was devastating for Dr. David Welsh, the public health officer in rural Ripley County.

People immediately stopped calling him to report covid violations, because they knew the county commissioners could overturn his authority. It was “like turning off a light switch,” Welsh said.

Another county in Indiana has already seen its health department’s mask mandate by the local commissioners, Welsh said.

He’s considering stepping down after more than a quarter century in the role. If he does, he’ll join at least 303 public health leaders who have retired, resigned or been fired since the pandemic began, according to an ongoing KHN and AP analysis. That means 1 in 5 Americans have lost a local health leader during the pandemic.

“This is a deathblow,” said , CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for public health. He called the legislative assault the last straw for many seasoned public health officials who have battled the pandemic without sufficient resources, while also being vilified.

Public health groups expect further combative legislation. ALEC’s Hauenschild said the group is looking into a Michigan law that allowed the legislature to limit the governor’s emergency powers without Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature.Ìý

Curbing the authority of public health officials has also become campaign fodder, particularly among Republican candidates running further on the right. While Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little was traveling out of state, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin signed a surprise executive order banning mask mandates that she for her upcoming campaign against him. He later reversed the ban, , “I do not like petty politics. I do not like political stunts over the rule of law.”

At least one former lawmaker — former — said some of today’s politicians may come to regret these laws.

Fawbush was a sponsor of during the AIDS crisis. It banned employers from requiring health care workers, as a condition of employment, to get an HIV vaccine, if one became available.Ìý

But 32 years later, that means Oregon cannot require health care workers to be vaccinated against covid. Calling lawmaking a “messy business,” Fawbush said he certainly wouldn’t have pushed the bill through if he had known then what he does now.

“Legislators need to obviously deal with immediate situations,” Fawbush said. “But we have to look over the horizon. It’s part of the job responsibility to look at consequences.”

KHN data reporter Hannah Recht, Montana correspondent Katheryn Houghton and Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith contributed to this report.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Sus funcionarios, que han manejado presupuestos famélicos durante años, están felices de tener este dinero adicional. Sin embargo, les preocupa que esta ayuda pueda desaparecer pronto, a medida que la pandemia se repliega, continuando con un ciclo de altas y bajas en la financiación, que ha plagado al sistema de salud pública de los Estados Unidos durante décadas.

Advierten que, si los presupuestos se recortan de nuevo, la nación podría volver a donde estaba antes de covid: sin preparación para enfrentar una crisis de salud.

“Necesitamos fondos con los que podamos contar año tras año”, dijo la doctora Mysheika Roberts, comisionada de salud de Columbus, Ohio.

Cuando Roberts comenzó en Columbus en 2006, una subvención de preparación para emergencias alcanzó para pagarle a más de 20 empleados. Cuando llegó la pandemia de coronavirus, alcanzó para cerca de 10. Con el dinero de ayuda que llegó el año pasado, el departamento pudo tener más equipos de respuesta a covid. Pero, aunque la financiación ha ayudado a la ciudad a hacer frente a la crisis inmediata, Roberts se pregunta si la historia se repetirá.

Una vez que termine la pandemia, los funcionarios de salud pública temen tener que volver a reunir dinero de múltiples fuentes para brindar servicios básicos a sus comunidades, como pasó después del 9/11, el SARS y el Ebola.

Cuando el virus del Zika transmitido por mosquitos atravesó Sudamérica en 2016, causando graves defectos de nacimiento en recién nacidos, los congresistas no pudieron ponerse de acuerdo sobre cómo y cuánto gastar en los Estados Unidos.

Para los esfuerzos de prevención, como la educación y la eliminación de mosquitos, los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC) tomaron dinero que estaba destinado al Ebola y de los fondos para los departamento de salud estatales y locales. El Congreso finalmente asignó $1.1 mil millones para el Zika. Pero, para entonces, la temporada de mosquitos ya había pasado en gran parte del país.

“Algo sucede, repartimos un montón de dinero, y luego, en uno o dos años, volvemos a nuestros presupuestos reducidos y no podemos hacer las cosas mínimas que tenemos que hacer día tras día, y mucho menos estar preparados para la próxima emergencia ”, dijo Chrissie Juliano, directora ejecutiva de Big Cities Health Coalition, que representa a líderes de más de dos docenas de departamentos de salud pública.

El financiamiento para el Public Health Emergency Preparedness, que paga por las capacidades de emergencia para los departamentos de salud estatales y locales, se redujo aproximadamente a la mitad entre los años fiscales 2003 y 2021, tomando en cuenta la inflación, según Trust for America’s Health, una organización de investigación y defensa de la salud pública.

Incluso el , que se estableció con la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA) para proporcionar $2 mil millones al año para la salud pública, fue allanado en busca de efectivo durante la última década. Si no se hubiera tocado ese dinero, eventualmente los departamentos habrían obtenido $12,4 mil millones adicionales.

Varios legisladores, con la senadora nacional Patty Murray (demócrata de Washington) a la cabeza, buscan poner fin a este círculo vicioso con una legislación que eventualmente proporcionaría $4,500 millones anuales en fondos básicos de salud pública. Los departamentos de salud llevan a cabo funciones gubernamentales esenciales, como administrar la seguridad del agua, emitir certificados de defunción, rastrear enfermedades de transmisión sexual, y estar listos para brotes de enfermedades infecciosas.

El gasto en estos departamentos estatales se redujo en un 16% per cápita de 2010 a 2019, y el gasto en los departamentos de salud locales bajó un 18%, reveló en julio una investigación de KHN y The Associated Press (AP).

Se perdieron al menos 38,000 empleos de salud pública a nivel estatal y local entre la recesión de 2008 y 2019. Hoy en día, se contrata a muchos trabajadores de salud pública de manera temporal o a tiempo parcial. A algunos se les paga tan mal que califican para beneficios del gobierno. Esos factores reducen la capacidad de los departamentos para retener personas con experiencia.

Para peor, la pandemia ha generado un éxodo de funcionarios de salud pública debido al acoso, la presión política y el agotamiento. Un análisis de un año realizado por AP y KHN reveló que al menos 248 líderes de departamentos de salud estatales y locales renunciaron, se retiraron o fueron despedidos entre el 1 de abril de 2020 y el 31 de marzo de 2021. Casi uno de cada 6 estadounidenses perdió a un líder de salud pública local durante la pandemia.

Expertos dicen que es el mayor éxodo de líderes de salud pública en la historia de los Estados Unidos.

Brian Castrucci, director ejecutivo de la Beaumont Foundation, que aboga por la salud pública, llama a la enorme afluencia de efectivo del Congreso en respuesta a la crisis un “vendaje temporal” porque no restaura los cimientos quebrados de la salud pública.

“Me preocupa que al final vayamos a contratar un montón de rastreadores de contactos, para despedirlos poco después”, dijo Castrucci. “Continuamos pasando de un desastre a otro sin siquiera hablar de la infraestructura real”.

Castrucci y otros dicen que necesitan dinero confiable para profesionales altamente capacitados, como epidemiólogos (detectives de enfermedades basados ​​en datos) y para actualizaciones tecnológicas que ayudarían a rastrear brotes y brindar información al público.

En Ohio, el sistema informático utilizado para informar casos al estado es anterior a la invención del iPhone. Funcionarios estatales dijeron durante años que querían mejorarlo, pero no hubo ni dinero ni voluntad política. Muchos departamentos en todo el país han tenido que confiar en las para reportar casos de covid.

Durante la pandemia, el auditor del estado de Ohio descubrió que casi el 96% de los departamentos de salud locales encuestados tenían problemas con el sistema de notificación de enfermedades del estado. Roberts dijo que los trabajadores que entrevistaban a los pacientes tenían que navegar por varias páginas de preguntas, una tarea pesada cuando se manejan 500 casos al día.

El sistema estaba tan desactualizado que parte de la información solo se podía ingresar en un cuadro de comentarios que después no se podía encontrar, y los funcionarios luchaban para extraer datos del sistema para informar al público, como cuántas personas que dieron positivo en la prueba habían asistido a un marcha de Black Lives Matter, que el verano pasado fue una pregunta clave para comprender si las protestas contribuían a la propagación del virus.

Ohio está trabajando en un nuevo sistema, pero a Roberts le preocupa que, sin un presupuesto confiable, el estado tampoco pueda mantenerlo actualizado.

“Vas a necesitar actualizar eso”, dijo Roberts. “Y vas a necesitar dólares para respaldarlo”.

En Washington, Patty Hayes, la directora de salud pública de Seattle y el condado de King, dijo que todo el tiempo le preguntan por qué no hay un solo sitio centralizado para registrarse para una cita de vacunación. La respuesta se reduce al dinero: años de financiación insuficiente dejaron a los departamentos de todo el estado con sistemas informáticos anticuados que no estaban a la altura de la tarea cuando llegó covid.

Hayes recuerda un tiempo en el que su departamento realizaba simulacros de vacunación masiva, pero ese sistema se desmanteló cuando el dinero se agotó después de que se desvaneció el fantasma del 9/11.

Hace aproximadamente seis años, un análisis encontró que a su departamento le faltaban alrededor de $25 millones del dinero que necesitaba anualmente para el trabajo básico de salud pública. Hayes dijo que el año pasado demostró que esa cifra estaba subestimada. Por ejemplo, el cambio climático está generando más preocupaciones de salud pública, como el efecto en los residentes cuando el humo de los incendios forestales cubrió gran parte del noroeste del Pacífico en septiembre.

Funcionarios de salud pública en algunas áreas pueden tener dificultades para defender un financiamiento más estable porque una gran parte del público ha cuestionado, y a menudo ha sido abiertamente hostil, con los mandatos del uso de máscaras y las restricciones a los negocios impuestas a lo largo de la pandemia.

En Missouri, algunos comisionados del condado, frustrados por las restricciones de salud pública, retuvieron dinero de los departamentos.

En el condado de Knox, en Tennessee, el alcalde Glenn Jacobs narró publicado en el otoño que mostraba una foto de funcionarios de salud después de hacer referencia a “fuerzas siniestras”. Más tarde, alguien pintó con spray la palabra “MUERTE” en el edificio del departamento. La Junta de Salud fue despojada de sus poderes en marzo y se le otorgó una función asesora. Un vocero de la oficina del alcalde se negó a comentar sobre el video.

“Esto va a cambiar la posición de la salud pública y lo que podemos y no podemos hacer en todo el país”, dijo la doctora Martha Buchanan, jefa del Departamento de Salud. “Sé que lo va a cambiar aquí”.

Una en diciembre encontró que al menos 24 estados estaban elaborando una legislación que limitaría o eliminaría los poderes de salud pública.

De nuevo en Seattle, las empresas locales han aportado dinero y personal a los sitios de vacunación. Microsoft aloja a uno de estos sitios, mientras que Starbucks ofreció experiencia en servicio al cliente para ayudar a diseñarlos. Hayes está agradecida, pero se pregunta por qué una función del gobierno crítica no contó con los recursos que necesitaba durante una pandemia.

Si la salud pública hubiera recibido financiamiento confiable, su personal podría haber estado trabajando de manera más efectiva con los datos, y podría haber estado preparándose para las amenazas emergentes en el estado donde se confirmó el primer caso de covid del país.

“Mirarán hacia atrás a esta respuesta a la pandemia en este país como un gran ejemplo del fracaso de un país en priorizar la salud de sus ciudadanos, porque no hubo compromiso con la salud pública”, dijo. “Eso será parte de la historia”.

La corresponsal senior de KHN Anna Maria Barry-Jester y la corresponsal de Montana Katheryn Houghton colaboraron con este informe.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Public health officials who have juggled bare-bones budgets for years are happy to have the additional money. Yet they worry it will soon dry up as the pandemic recedes, continuing a boom-bust funding cycle that has plagued the U.S. public health system for decades. If budgets are slashed again, they warn, that could leave the nation where it was before covid: unprepared for a health crisis.

“We need funds that we can depend on year after year,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, the health commissioner of Columbus, Ohio.

When Roberts started in Columbus in 2006, an emergency preparedness grant paid for more than 20 staffers. By the time the coronavirus pandemic hit, it paid for about 10. Relief money that came through last year helped the department staff up its covid response teams. While the funding has helped the city cope with the immediate crisis, Roberts wonders if history will repeat itself.

After the pandemic is over, public health officials across the U.S. fear, they’ll be back to scraping together money from a patchwork of sources to provide basic services to their communities — much like after 9/11, SARS and Ebola.

When the mosquito-borne Zika virus tore through South America in 2016, causing serious birth defects in newborn babies, members of Congress couldn’t agree how, and how much, to spend in the U.S. for prevention efforts, such as education and mosquito abatement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took money from its Ebola efforts, and from state and local health department funding, to pay for the initial Zika response. Congress eventually allocated $1.1 billion for Zika, but by then mosquito season had passed in much of the U.S.

“Something happens, we throw a ton of money at it, and then in a year or two we go back to our shrunken budgets and we can’t do the minimum things we have to do day in and day out, let alone be prepared for the next emergency,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents leaders of more than two dozen public health departments.

Funding for Public Health Emergency Preparedness, which pays for emergency capabilities for state and local health departments, dropped by about half between the 2003 and 2021 fiscal years, accounting for inflation, according to , a public health research and advocacy organization.

Even the federal , established with the Affordable Care Act to provide $2 billion a year for public health, was raided for cash over the past decade. If the money hadn’t been touched, eventually local and state health departments would have gotten an additional $12.4 billion.

Several lawmakers, led by Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, are looking to end the boom-bust cycle with that would eventually provide $4.5 billion annually in core public health funding. Health departments carry out essential government functions — such as managing water safety, issuing death certificates, tracking sexually transmitted diseases and preparing for infectious outbreaks.

Spending for state public health departments dropped by 16% per capita from 2010 to 2019, and spending for local health departments fell by 18%, KHN and The Associated Press found in a July investigation. At least 38,000 public health jobs were lost at the state and local level between the 2008 recession and 2019. Today, many public health workers are hired on a temporary or part-time basis. Some are paid so poorly they qualify for public aid. Those factors reduce departments’ ability to retain people with expertise.

Compounding those losses, the pandemic has prompted an exodus of public health officials because of harassment, political pressure and exhaustion. A yearlong analysis by the AP and KHN found at least 248 leaders of state and local health departments resigned, retired or were fired between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans lost a local public health leader during the pandemic. Experts say it is the largest exodus of public health leaders in American history.

Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for public health, calls Congress’ giant influx of cash in response to the crisis “wallpaper and drapes” because it doesn’t restore public health’s crumbling foundation.

“I worry at the end of this we’re going to hire up a bunch of contact tracers — and then lay them off soon thereafter,” Castrucci said. “We are continuing to kind of go from disaster to disaster without ever talking about the actual infrastructure.”

Castrucci and others say dependable money is needed for high-skill professionals, such as epidemiologists — data-driven disease detectives — and for technology upgrades that would help track outbreaks and get information to the public.

In Ohio, the computer system used to report cases to the state predates the invention of the iPhone. State officials had said for years they wanted to upgrade it, but they lacked the money and political will. Many departments across the country have relied on to report covid cases.

During the pandemic, Ohio’s that nearly 96% of local health departments it surveyed had problems with the state’s disease reporting system. Roberts said workers interviewing patients had to navigate several pages of questions, a major burden when handling 500 cases daily.

The system was so outdated that some information could be entered only in a non-searchable comment box, and officials struggled to pull data from the system to report to the public — such as how many people who tested positive had attended a Black Lives Matter rally, which last summer was a key question for people trying to understand whether protests contributed to the virus’s spread.

Ohio is working on a new system, but Roberts worries that, without a dependable budget, the state won’t be able to keep that one up to date either.Ìý

“You’re going to need to upgrade that,” Roberts said. “And you're going to need dollars to support that.”

In Washington, the public health director for Seattle and King County, Patty Hayes, said she is asked all the time why there isn’t a single, central place to register for a vaccine appointment. The answer comes down to money: Years of underfunding left departments across the state with antiquated computer systems that were not up to the task when covid hit.

Hayes recalls a time when her department would conduct mass vaccination drills, but that system was dismantled when the money dried up after the specter of 9/11 faded.

Roughly six years ago, an analysis found that her department was about $25 million short of what it needed annually for core public health work. Hayes said the past year has shown that’s an underestimate. For example, climate change is prompting more public health concerns, such as the effect on residents when wildfire smoke engulfed much of the Pacific Northwest in September.

Public health officials in some areas may struggle to make the case for more stable funding because a large swath of the public has questioned — and often been openly hostile toward — the mask mandates and business restrictions that public health officials have imposed through the pandemic.

In Missouri, some county commissioners who were frustrated at public health restrictions withheld money from the departments.

In Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs narrated posted in the fall that showed a photo of health officials after referencing “sinister forces.” Later, someone spray-painted “DEATH” on the department office building. The Board of Health was stripped of its powers in March and given an advisory role. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office declined to comment on the video.

“This is going to change the position of public health and what we can and cannot do across the country,” said Dr. Martha Buchanan, the head of the health department. “I know it’s going to change it here.”

A found at least 24 states were crafting legislation that would limit or remove public health powers.

Back in Seattle, locally based companies have pitched in money and staff members for vaccine sites. Microsoft is hosting one location, while Starbucks offered customer service expertise to help design the sites. Hayes is grateful, but she wonders why a critical government function didn’t have the resources it needed during a pandemic.

If public health had been getting dependable funding, her staff could have been working more effectively with the data and preparing for emerging threats in the state where the was confirmed.

“They'll look back at this response to the pandemic in this country as a great example of a failure of a country to prioritize the health of its citizens, because it didn't commit to public health,” she said. “That will be part of the story.”

KHN senior correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Montana correspondent Katheryn Houghton contributed to this report.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Como administradora de salud pública, ha luchado cada día de la pandemia para mantener a salvo a su condado rural, ubicado a lo largo de la frontera con Missouri. A cambio, ha sido acosada, demandada, vilipendiada y le han gritado “cumple-órdenes”.

Los meses de peleas por máscaras y cuarentenas ya la estaban desgastando. Luego contrajo COVID-19, probablemente de su esposo, quien se ha negado a exigir el uso de máscaras en la ferretería familiar. Su madre también lo contrajo y murió el domingo 13 de diciembre.

En todo Estados Unidos, funcionarios de salud pública estatales y locales se han encontrado en el centro de una tormenta política.

Algunos han sido el blanco de activistas de extrema derecha, grupos conservadores y extremistas antivacunas, que se han unido en torno a objetivos comunes: luchar contra los mandatos de uso de máscaras, las cuarentenas y el rastreo de contactos, con protestas, amenazas y ataques personales.

El poder de la salud pública también se está socavando en los tribunales. Legisladores, en al menos 24 estados, han diseñado leyes para debilitar poderes que la salud pública ha mantenido por mucho tiempo.

En medio de este retroceso, desde el 1 de abril, al menos 181 líderes de salud pública estatales y locales, en 38 estados, han renunciado, se han jubilado o han sido despedidos, según una investigación en curso de The Associated Press y KHN. Expertos dicen que se trata del éxodo más grande de líderes de salud pública en la historia de los Estados Unidos.

Uno de cada 8 estadounidenses, 40 millones de personas, vive en una comunidad que perdió a su líder de salud pública local durante la pandemia. En 20 estados, los principales funcionarios de salud pública han dejado sus puestos, y también se ha ido un número incalculable de empleados de niveles inferiores.

Muchos de los líderes se retiraron debido al retroceso político o la presión de la pandemia. Algunos se fueron para ocupar puestos de más alto perfil o por problemas de salud. Otros fueron despedidos por mal desempeño. Docenas se jubilaron.

“No tenemos gente haciendo fila afuera para cubrir estos puestos”, dijo el doctor Gianfranco Pezzino, oficial de salud en el condado de Shawnee, Kansas, quien había decidido jubilarse a fines de año, porque, dijo, ha llegado a su límite. “Es una gran pérdida que es probable que impacte en las  generaciones futuras”.

Pero Pezzino no llegó al 31 de diciembre. El lunes 14, luego que los comisionados del condado , .

Estas partidas son una erosión adicional a la ya frágil infraestructura de salud pública del país, antes de la campaña de vacunación más grande en la historia de los Estados Unidos.

AP y KHN que, desde 2010, el gasto per cápita de los departamentos de salud pública estatales se había reducido en un 16%, y en los departamentos de salud locales, un 18%. Al menos 38,000 empleos de salud pública estatales y locales han desaparecido desde la recesión de 2008.

Desde que comenzó la pandemia, la fuerza laboral de salud pública en Kansas se ha visto muy afectada: 17 de los 100 departamentos de salud del estado han estado perdiendo a sus líderes desde finales de marzo.

La gobernadora demócrata Laura Kelly emitió en julio, pero la legislatura estatal permitió que los condados optaran por no participar. Un informe reciente de los Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC) mostró que los 24 condados de Kansas que habían cumplido con este mandato registraron una disminución del 6% en los casos de COVID-19, mientras que los 81 condados que optaron por no participar por completo vieron un aumento del 100%.

Coleman presionó para que el condado de Linn mantuviera la regla, pero los comisionados escribieron que las máscaras “no son necesarias para proteger la salud pública y la seguridad del condado”.

Coleman se sintió decepcionada, pero no sorprendida. “Al menos sé que he hecho todo lo posible para intentar proteger a la gente”, dijo.

En Boise, Idaho, el 8 de diciembre, , algunos armados, invadieron las oficinas de salud del distrito y las casas de los miembros de la junta de salud, gritando y haciendo sonar las bocinas. Entre ellos había miembros del grupo anti-vacunas Health Freedom Idaho.

Según expertos, el movimiento contra las vacunas se ha vinculado con extremistas políticos de derecha, y ha asumido un papel más amplio en contra de la ciencia, rechazando otras medidas de salud pública.

Ahora, los opositores están recurriendo a las legislaturas estatales, e incluso a la Corte Suprema, para despojar a los funcionarios públicos del poder legal que han tenido durante décadas para detener las enfermedades transmitidas por alimentos y las enfermedades infecciosas mediante el cierre de negocios y las cuarentenas, entre otras medidas.

Legisladores de Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia y al menos otros 20 estados han elaborado proyectos de ley para limitar los poderes de la salud pública. En algunos estados, estos esfuerzos han fracasado; en otros, los han acogido con entusiasmo.

Mientras tanto, los gobernadores de varios estados, incluidos Wisconsin, Kansas y Michigan, han sido demandados por sus propios legisladores, u otros, por utilizar sus poderes ejecutivos para restringir las operaciones comerciales y exigir máscaras.

En Ohio, un grupo de legisladores busca procesar al gobernador republicano Mike DeWine por sus reglas sobre la pandemia.

Un fallo de 5-4 el mes pasado indicó que la Corte Suprema también está dispuesta a imponer nuevas restricciones a los poderes de la salud pública. Lawrence Gostin, experto en derecho de salud pública de la Universidad Georgetown, en Washington, DC, dijo que la decisión podría animar a legisladores estatales y a gobernadores a buscar limitaciones adicionales.

Junto con la reacción política, muchos funcionarios de salud se han enfrentado a amenazas violentas. En California, un hombre con vínculos con el movimiento de derecha Boogaloo, que está asociado con múltiples asesinatos, fue acusado de acechar y amenazar al funcionario de salud de Santa Clara. Fue arrestado y se declaró inocente.

Linda Vail, funcionaria de salud del condado de Ingham, en Michigan, recibió correos electrónicos y cartas en su casa diciendo que sería “derrocada como la gobernadora”, lo que interpretó como una referencia al intento frustrado de secuestrar a la gobernadora demócrata Gretchen Whitmer.

“Puedo entender completamente por qué algunas personas simplemente se fueron”, dijo. “Hay otros lugares para ir a trabajar”.

A medida que los funcionarios de salud pública a lo largo del país parten, la cuestión de quién ocupa sus lugares preocupa a la doctora Oxiris Barbot, quien dejó su trabajo como comisionada del departamento de salud de la ciudad de Nueva York en agosto en medio de un enfrentamiento con el alcalde demócrata Bill de Blasio.

“Me preocupa si tendrán la fortaleza necesaria para decirles a los funcionarios electos lo que necesitan escuchar en lugar de lo que quieren escuchar”, dijo Barbot.

En el condado de Linn, los casos están aumentando. Hasta el 14 de diciembre, 1 de cada 24 residentes había dado positivo para COVID.

“Por supuesto, podría rendirme y colgar la toalla, pero todavía no he llegado a ese punto”, dijo Coleman.

Ha notado que más personas usan máscaras en estos días.

Pero en la ferretería familiar, todavía no son mandatorias.

Michelle R. Smith es reportera de AP, y Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Hannah Recht y Lauren Weber son reporteras de KHN.

Esta historia es una colaboración entre The Associated Press y KHN (Kaiser Health News), un servicio de noticias sin fines de lucro que cubre temas de salud. Es un programa editorialmente independiente de (Kaiser Family Foundation) que no tiene relación con Kaiser Permanente.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Tisha Coleman has lived in close-knit Linn County, Kansas, for 42 years and never felt so alone.

As the public health administrator, she’s struggled every day of to keep her rural county along the Missouri border safe. In this community with no hospital, she’s failed to persuade her neighbors to wear masks and take precautions against COVID-19, even as cases rise. In return, she’s been harassed, sued, vilified — and called a Democrat, an insult in her circles.

Even her husband hasn’t listened to her, refusing to require customers to wear masks at the family’s hardware store in Mound City.

“People have shown their true colors,” Coleman said. “I’m sure that I’ve lost some friends over this situation.”

By November, the months of fighting over masks and quarantines were already wearing her down. Then she got COVID-19, likely from her husband, who she thinks picked it up at the hardware store. Her mother got it, too, and died on Sunday, 11 days after she was put on a ventilator.

Across the U.S., state and local public health officials such as Coleman have found themselves at the center of a political storm as they combat . Amid a fractured federal response, the usually invisible army of workers charged with preventing the spread of infectious diseases has . Their expertise on how to fight the coronavirus is often disregarded.

Some have become the target of far-right activists, conservative groups and anti-vaccination extremists, who have coalesced around common goals — fighting mask orders, quarantines and contact tracing with protests, threats and personal attacks.

The backlash has moved beyond the angry fringe. In the courts, public health powers are being undermined. Lawmakers in at least 24 states have crafted legislation to weaken public health powers, which could make it more difficult for communities to respond to other health emergencies in the future.

“What we’ve taken for granted for 100 years in public health is now very much in doubt,” said Lawrence Gostin, an expert in public health law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

It is a further erosion of the nation’s already fragile public health infrastructure. At least 181 state and local public health leaders in 38 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April 1, according to an by The Associated Press and KHN. According to experts, this is the largest exodus of public health leaders in American history. An untold number of lower-level staffers has also left.

“I’ve never seen or studied a pandemic that has been as politicized, as vitriolic and as challenged as this one, and I’ve studied a lot of epidemics,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan. “All of that has been very demoralizing for the men and women who don’t make a great deal of money, don’t get a lot of fame, but work 24/7.”

One in 8 Americans — 40 million people — lives in a community that has lost its local public health department leader during the pandemic. Top public health officials in 20 states have left state-level departments, including in North Dakota, which has lost three state health officers since May, one after another.

Many of the state and local officials left due to political blowback or pandemic pressure. Some departed to take higher-profile positions or due to health concerns. Others were fired for poor performance. Dozens retired.

KHN and AP reached out to public health workers and experts in every state and the National Association of County and City Health Officials; examined public records and news reports; and interviewed hundreds to gather the list.

Collectively, the loss of expertise and experience has created a leadership vacuum in the profession, public health experts say. Many health departments are in flux as the nation rolls out and faces what are expected to be the worst months of the pandemic.

“We don’t have a long line of people outside of the door who want those jobs,” said Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino, health officer in Shawnee County, Kansas, who had decided to retire from his job at the end of the year, he said, because he’s burned out. “It’s a huge loss that will be felt probably for generations to come.”

But Pezzino could not even make it to Dec. 31. On Monday, after county commissioners , he .Ìý

“You value the pressure from people with special economic interests more than science and good public health practice,” he to the commissioners. “In full conscience I cannot continue to serve as the health officer for a board that puts being able to patronize bars and sports venues in front of the health, lives and well-being of a majority of its constituents.”

Existing Problems

The departures accelerate problems that had already weakened the nation’s public health system. that per capita spending for state public health departments had dropped by 16%, and for local health departments by 18%, since 2010. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession.

Those diminishing resources were already prompting high turnover. Before the pandemic, nearly half of public health workers said in a survey they planned to retire or leave in the next five years. The top reason given was low pay.

Such reduced staffing in departments that have the power and responsibility to manage everything from water inspections to childhood immunizations left public health workforces ill-equipped when COVID-19 arrived. Then, when pandemic shutdowns cut tax revenues, some state and local governments cut their public health workforces further.

“Now we’re at this moment where we need this knowledge and leadership the most, everything has come together to cause that brain drain,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents leaders of more than two dozen public health departments.

Politics as Public Health Poison

Public health experts broadly agree that and save lives and livelihoods. Scientists say that and curtailing indoor activities can also help.

But with the pandemic coinciding with , simple acts such as wearing a mask morphed into , with right-wing conservatives saying such requirements stomped on individual freedom.

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump ridiculed President-elect Joe Biden for wearing a mask and egged on by tweeting

Coleman, a Christian and a Republican, said that’s just what happened in Linn County. “A lot of people are shamed into not wearing a mask ... because you’re considered a Democrat,” she said. “I’ve been called a ‘sheep.’”

The politicization has put some local governments at odds with their own health officials. In California, near Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted to end a local health emergency and declared support for a widely discredited “herd immunity” strategy, which would let the virus spread. The idea is endorsed by many conservatives, including , as a way to keep the economy running, but it has been denounced by public health experts who say millions more people will unnecessarily suffer and die. The supervisors also endorsed a false conspiracy theory claiming many COVID-19 deaths are not actually from COVID-19.

The meeting occurred just days after county Public Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson explained to the board the rigorous standards used for counting COVID-19 deaths. Sisson quit the next day.

In Idaho, protests against public health measures are intensifying. Hundreds of protesters, some armed, and health board members’ homes in Boise on Dec. 8, screaming and blaring air horns. They included members of the anti-vaccination group Health Freedom Idaho.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has tracked the anti-vaccine movement and said it has linked up with political extremists on the right, and taken on a larger anti-science role, pushing back against other public health measures such as contact tracing and physical distancing.

Members of a group called the Freedom Angels in California, which sprung up in 2019 around a state law to tighten vaccine requirements, have been organizing protests at health departments, posing with guns and calling themselves a militia on the group’s Facebook page.

The latest Idaho protests came after a July skirmish in which Ammon Bundy who tried to stop him and his maskless supporters from entering a health meeting.

Bundy, whose family led armed standoffs against federal agents in 2014 and 2016, has become , most recently forming a multistate network called People’s Rights that has organized protests against public health measures.

“We don’t believe they have a right to tell us that we have to put a manmade filter over our face to go outside,” Bundy said. “It’s not about, you know, the mandates or the mask. It’s about them not having that right to do it.”

Kelly Aberasturi, vice chair for the Southwest District Health, which covers six counties, said the worker Bundy shoved was “just trying to do his job.”

Aberasturi, a self-described “extremist” right-wing Republican, said he, too, has been subjected to the backlash. Aberasturi doesn’t support mask mandates, but he did back the board’s recommendation that people in the community wear masks. He said people who believe even a recommendation goes too far have threatened to protest at his house.

The Mask Fight in Kansas

The public health workforce in Kansas has been hit hard — 17 of the state’s 100 health departments have lost their leaders since the end of March.Ìý

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in July, but the state legislature allowed counties to opt out. A recent showed the 24 Kansas counties that had upheld the mandate saw a 6% decrease in COVID-19, while the 81 counties that opted out entirely saw a 100% increase.

Coleman, who pushed unsuccessfully for Linn County to uphold the rule, was sued for putting a community member into quarantine, a lawsuit she won. In late November, she spoke at a to discuss a new mask mandate — it was her first day back in the office after her own bout with COVID-19.

She pleaded for a plan to help stem the surge in cases. One resident referenced Thomas Jefferson, saying, “I prefer a dangerous freedom over a peaceful slavery.” Another falsely argued that masks caused elevated carbon dioxide. Few, besides Coleman, wore a mask at the meeting.

Commissioner Mike Page supported the mask order, noting that a close friend was fighting COVID-19 in the hospital and saying he was “ashamed” that members of the community had sued their public health workers while other communities supported theirs.

In the end, the commissioners encouraged community members to wear masks but opted out of a county-wide rule, writing they had determined that they are “not necessary to protect the public health and safety of the county.”

Coleman was disappointed but not surprised. “At least I know I’ve done everything I can to attempt to protect the people,” she said.

The next day, Coleman discussed Christmas decorations with her mother as she drove her to the hospital.

Stripping of Powers

The state bill that let Linn County opt out of the governor’s mask mandate is one of dozens of efforts to erode public health powers in state legislatures across the country.

For decades, government authorities have had the legal power to stop foodborne illnesses and infectious diseases by closing businesses and quarantining individuals, among other measures.

When people contract tuberculosis, for example, the local health department might isolate them, require them to wear a mask when they leave their homes, require family members to get tested, relocate them so they can isolate and make sure they take their medicine. Such measures are meant to protect everyone and avoid the shutdown of businesses and schools.

Now, opponents of those measures are turning to state legislatures and even the Supreme Court to strip public officials of those powers, defund local health departments or even dissolve them. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed group of conservative lawmakers, has published for .

Lawmakers in Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia and at least 20 other states have crafted bills to limit public health powers. In some states, the efforts have failed; in others, legislative leaders have embraced them enthusiastically.

Tennessee’s Republican House leadership is backing a bill to constrain the state’s six local health departments, granting their powers to mayors instead. The bill stems from clashes between the mayor of Knox County and the local health board over mask mandates and business closures.

In Idaho, lawmakers to review the authority of local health districts in the next session. The move doesn’t sit right with Aberasturi, who said it’s hypocritical coming from state lawmakers who profess to believe in local control.

Meanwhile, governors in Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan, among others, have been sued by their own legislators, state think tanks or others for using their executive powers to restrict business operations and require masks. In Ohio, a group of lawmakers is seeking to impeach Republican Gov. Mike DeWine over his pandemic rules.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1905 found it was constitutional for officials to issue orders to protect the public health, in a case upholding a Cambridge, Massachusetts, requirement to get a smallpox vaccine. But a indicated the majority of justices are willing to put new constraints on those powers.

“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.

Gostin, the health law professor, said the decision could embolden state legislators and governors to weaken public health authority, creating “a snowballing effect on the erosion of public health powers and, ultimately, public’s trust in public health and science.”

Who's Left?

Many health officials who have stayed in their jobs have faced not only political backlash but also threats of personal violence. Armed paramilitary groups have put public health in their sights.

In California, a man with ties to the right-wing, anti-government Boogaloo movement was accused of stalking and threatening Santa Clara’s health officer. The suspect was arrested and has pleaded not guilty. The Boogaloo movement is associated with multiple murders, including of a Bay Area sheriff deputy and federal security officer.

Linda Vail, health officer for Michigan’s Ingham County, has received emails and letters at her home saying she’d be “taken down like the governor,” which Vail took to be a reference to . Even as other health officials are leaving, Vail is choosing to stay despite the threats.

“I can completely understand why some people, they’re just done,” she said. “There are other places to go work.”

In mid-November, Danielle Swanson, public health administrator in Republic County, Kansas, said she was planning to resign as soon as she and enough of her COVID-19-positive staff emerged from isolation. Someone threatened to go to her department with a gun because of a quarantine, and she’s received hand-delivered hate mail and calls from screaming residents.

“It’s very stressful. It’s hard on me; it’s hard on my family that I do not see,” she said. “For the longest time, I held through it thinking there’s got to be an end in sight.”

Swanson said some of her employees have told her once she goes, they probably will not stay.

As public health officials depart across the country, the question of who takes their places has plagued Dr. Oxiris Barbot, who in August amid a clash with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. During the height of the pandemic, the mayor empowered the city’s hospital system to lead the fight against COVID-19, passing over her highly regarded department.

“I’m concerned about the degree to which they will have the fortitude to tell elected officials what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear,” Barbot said.

In Kentucky, 189 employees, about 1 in 10, left local health departments from March through Nov. 21, according to Sara Jo Best, public health director of the Lincoln Trail District Health Department. That comes after a decade of decline: Staff numbers fell 49% from 2009 to 2019. She said workers are exhausted and can’t catch up on the overwhelming number of contact tracing investigations, much less run COVID-19 testing, combat flu season and prepare for COVID-19 vaccinations.

And the remaining workforce is aging. According to the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for local public health, 42% of governmental public health workers are over age 50.

Back in Linn County, cases are rising. As of Dec. 14, 1 out of every 24 residents has tested positive.

The day after her mother was put on a ventilator, Coleman fought to hold back tears as she described the 71-year-old former health care worker with a strong work ethic.

“Of course, I could give up and throw in the towel, but I’m not there yet,” she said, adding that she will "continue to fight to prevent this happening to someone else.”

Coleman, whose mother died Sunday, has noticed more people are wearing masks these days.

But at the family hardware store, they are still not required.

This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KHN.

Methodology

KHN and AP counted how many state and local public health leaders have left their jobs since April 1, or who plan to leave by Dec. 31.

The analysis includes the exits of top department officials regardless of the reason. Some departments have more than one top position and some had multiple top officials leave from the same position over the course of the pandemic.

To compile the list, reporters reached out to public health associations and experts in every state and interviewed hundreds of public health employees. They also received information from the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and combed news reports and public records, such as meeting minutes and news releases.

The population served by each local health department is calculated using the Census Bureau 2019 Population Estimates based on each department’s jurisdiction.

The count of legislation came from reviewing bills in every state, prefiled bills for 2021 sessions, where available, and news reports. The bills include limits on quarantines, contact tracing, vaccine requirements and emergency executive powers.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Chantee Mack, 44, died in May. More than 20 colleagues also caught the coronavirus, and some are suffering lasting problems.

Now, after a KHN and Associated Press story in July spurred an investigation, Prince George’s County officials say they have added an appeals process to their work-at-home policy and hired a consultant to identify “operational and management needs for improvement” in the department. Union officials say the county has also made personal protective equipment, such as masks and gloves, more available in recent months and put a greater emphasis on social distancing.

“We’re getting somewhere,” said Rhonda Wallace, leader of a local branch of the . “But we’re not there yet.”

In an email to KHN, health department spokesperson George Lettis said officials can’t release results of the county investigation because of personnel and medical information. But a shares the inquiry’s main conclusions: that the health department tried to get PPE in early March and advised employees about social distancing and proper hygiene via a newsletter.

“It must not be overlooked that this was a rapidly evolving situation,” said the letter from Dr. George Askew, deputy chief administrative officer for health, human services and education. “Best efforts were made to keep the community and Health Department employees safe and informed during this unprecedented time.” The letter does not acknowledge any lapses made by the county.

Some employees argue the investigation didn’t delve into the circumstances around Mack’s death and say the county should publicly acknowledge its role in what happened. At a news conference in July, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said Mack’s death “deserves an investigation” and the county would “spare no time or expense.”

Mack, who worked in the department’s sexually transmitted diseases program, was denied permission to work from home in March even though she had health problems that put her at high risk for COVID-19 complications.

At least three other employees whose requests to work from home were denied around that time also got sick. Revonda Watts, a nurse and program manager, said she was allowed to work from home for one day before being called back to the office. Some of these employees worked face-to-face with the public at least part of the time.

A union document obtained by KHN detailed a conference call by department managers in which Diane Young, an associate director, laid out criteria for working from home, such as being 65 or older or having small children. She said decisions would be made case by case.

Meanwhile, protective masks, gowns and other safety equipment were in short supply nationally and at the health department, which distributed them only to certain workers. In early April, when Young asked Watts about PPE needs, Watts wrote in an email obtained by KHN: “N-95 masks are needed for all staff. We were given 1 mask to reuse. We have no face shields for the clinicians nor do we have gowns.”

Young responded that even though goggles were available, “face shields and gowns are in limited supply and will be used for those who are testing patients for COVID-19.”

Several employees described meetings and “morning huddles” in the office in March and April held without social distancing and during which few, if any, participants wore masks.

One employee after another got sick.

Watts, who is 58 and has asthma, developed bronchitis on top of COVID-19, then chest pain from spasms in her blood vessels. She spread the virus to her adult daughter.

Administrative aide Natania Bowen also spread the virus to her family, including her husband and 7-year-old daughter, who have since recovered. Bowen, a 47-year-old with asthma, experienced a bacterial lung infection along with COVID-19.

Receptionist Yolanda Potter, 53, had severe headaches for a month from her coronavirus infection. She developed a blood clot in her right leg and had to inject blood thinners into her stomach for 45 days to prevent it from breaking off and traveling to her lungs or brain. She and Carolyn Ferguson, an X-ray tech now on desk duty, suffer ongoing memory problems, while Bowen continues to have lung issues.

While Bowen now works from home, Watts, Potter and Ferguson are back at the office. As of mid-November, Lettis said, 141 health department employees were working fully on-site, 68 partly on-site and 196 at home.

Employees said they are pleased that social distancing is now the norm in the health department, that more places to sanitize hands exist and that PPE is easier to get. They’re also hopeful about the new policy on remote work.

The countywide rules include two levels of review for work-at-home requests: one by a supervisor and another by a higher-up boss who must give a reason if a worker’s request is denied. The employee can then ask the Office for Human Resource Management to review the denial.

Despite such measures, some employees still worry about contracting COVID-19 at work, especially as the state’s COVID dashboard puts the .

Several employees are seeking long-term disability leave or talking to lawyers about getting workers’ compensation. Watts said she is awaiting a workers’ comp hearing and has asked again for permission to work from home as she deals with crushing fatigue and numbness in her legs and hands. Since returning to the office, she said, she has had to bring her own mask from home.

“I get frustrated with not being able to just bounce back,” she said. The health department officials “really let us down and didn’t do their due diligence to make sure the staff was protected.”

This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KHN.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

By February, as the disease crept across the U.S., Keeley said she found her calling: a career in public health. “This is something that’s going to be necessary,” Keeley remembered thinking. “This is something I can do. This is something I’m interested in.”

In August, Keeley began studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to become an epidemiologist.

Public health programs in the United States have seen a surge in enrollment as the coronavirus has swept through the country, killing more than 246,000 people. As state and local public health departments struggle with unprecedented challenges — slashed budgets, surging demand, staff departures and even threats to workers’ safety — a new generation is entering the field.

Among the more than 100 schools and public health programs that use the common application — a single admissions application form that students can send to multiple schools — there was a 20% increase in applications to master’s in public health programs for the current academic year, to nearly 40,000, according to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.

Some programs are seeing even bigger jumps. Applications to Brown University’s small master’s in public health program rose 75%, according to Annie Gjelsvik, a professor and director of the program.

Demand was so high as the pandemic hit full force in the spring that Brown extended its application deadline by over a month. Seventy students ultimately matriculated this fall, up from 41 last year.

“People interested in public health are interested in solving complex problems,” Gjelsvik said. “The COVID pandemic is a complex issue that’s in the forefront every day.”

It’s too early to say whether the jump in interest in public health programs is specific to that field or reflects a broader surge of interest in graduate programs in general, according to those who track graduate school admissions. Factors such as pandemic-related deferrals and disruptions in international student admissions make it difficult to compare programs across the board.

Magnolia E. Hernández, an assistant dean at Florida International University’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, said new student enrollments in its master’s in public health program grew 63% from last year. The school has especially seen an uptick in interest among Black students, from 21% of newly admitted students last fall to 26.8% this year.

Kelsie Campbell is one of them. She’s part Jamaican and part British. When she heard in both the British and American media that Black and ethnic minorities were being disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, she wanted to focus on why.

“Why is the Black community being impacted disproportionately by the pandemic? Why is that happening?” Campbell asked. “I want to be able to come to you and say ‘This is happening. These are the numbers and this is what we’re going to do.’”

The biochemistry major at Florida International said she plans to explore that when she begins her MPH program at Stempel College in the spring. She said she hopes to eventually put her public health degree to work helping her own community.

“There’s power in having people from your community in high places, somebody to fight for you, somebody to be your voice,” she said.

Public health students are already working on the front lines of the nation’s pandemic response in many locations. Students at Brown’s public health program, for example, are crunching infection data and tracing the spread of the disease for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Some students who had planned to work in public health shifted their focus as they watched the devastation of COVID-19 in their communities. In college, Emilie Saksvig, 23, double-majored in civil engineering and public health. She was supposed to start working this year as a Peace Corps volunteer to help with water infrastructure in Kenya. She had dreamed of working overseas on global public health.

The pandemic forced her to cancel those plans, and she decided instead to pursue a master’s degree in public health at Emory University.

“The pandemic has made it so that it is apparent that the United States needs a lot of help, too,” she said. “It changed the direction of where I wanted to go.”

These students are entering a field that faced serious challenges even before the pandemic exposed the strains on the underfunded patchwork of state and local public health departments. An analysis by AP and KHN found that since 2010, per capita spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16%, and for local health departments by 18%. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession.

And the workforce is aging: Forty-two percent of governmental public health workers are over 50, according to the de Beaumont Foundation, and the field has high turnover. Before the pandemic, nearly half of public health workers said they planned to retire or leave their organizations for other reasons in the next five years. Poor pay topped the list of reasons. Some public health workers are paid so little that they qualify for public aid.

Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for public health, said government public health jobs need to be a “destination job” for top graduates of public health schools.

“If we aren’t going after the best and the brightest, it means that the best and the brightest aren’t protecting our nation from those threats that can, clearly, not only devastate from a human perspective, but from an economic perspective,” Castrucci said.

The pandemic put that already-stressed public health workforce in the middle of what became a pitched political battle over how to contain the disease. As public health officials recommended closing businesses and requiring people to wear masks, many, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top virus expert, faced threats and political reprisals, AP and KHN found. Many were pushed out of their jobs. An ongoing count by AP/KHN has found that more than 100 public health leaders in dozens of states have retired, quit or been fired since April.

Those threats have had the effect of crystallizing for students the importance of their work, said Patricia Pittman, a professor of health policy and management at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“Our students have been both indignant and also energized by what it means to become a public health professional,” Pittman said. “Indignant because many of the local and the national leaders who are trying to make recommendations around public health practices were being mistreated. And proud because they know that they are going to be part of that front-line public health workforce that has not always gotten the respect that it deserves.”

Saksvig compared public health workers to law enforcement in the way they both have responsibility for enforcing rules that can alter people’s lives.

“I feel like before the coronavirus, a lot of people didn’t really pay attention to public health,” she said. “Especially now when something like a pandemic is happening, public health people are just on the forefront of everything.”

KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber and KHN senior correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester contributed to this report.

This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KHN.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

The signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom late Wednesday is a response to threats made to health officers across California during the coronavirus pandemic. More than a dozen public health leaders have left their jobs amid such harassment over their role in mask rules and stay-at-home orders.

“Our public health officers have all too often faced targeted harassment and stalking,” wrote Secretary of State Alex Padilla in a statement. This “program can help provide more peace of mind to the public health officials who have been on the frontlines of California’s COVID-19 response.”

A community college instructor accused of stalking and threatening Santa Clara health officer Sara Cody was arrested in late August. The Santa Clara County sheriff said it believes the suspect, Alan Viarengo, has ties to the “Boogaloo” movement, a right-wing, anti-government group that promotes violence and is associated with , including the murders of a federal security officer and a sheriff deputy in the Bay Area. Thousands of rounds of ammunition, 138 firearms and explosive materials were found in his home, the sheriff’s office said.

In Santa Cruz County, two top health officials have received death threats, including one allegedly signed by a far-right extremist group.

In May, a member of the public read aloud the home address of former Orange County health officer Nichole Quick at a supervisors’ meeting and called for protesters to go to her home. “You have seen firsthand how people have been forced to exercise their First Amendment. Be wise, and do not force the residents of this county into feeling they have no other choice than to exercise their Second Amendment,” said another attendee. Quick later resigned.

Protesters angry over mask mandates and stay-at-home orders have gone to the homes of health officers in multiple counties, including Orange and Contra Costa.

The executive order would allow health officials to register with the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program. Those in the program are given an alternative mailing address to use for public records so that their home addresses are not revealed.

Threats of violence have added to the already immense pressure public health officials have experienced since the beginning of the year. Amid chronic underfunding and staffing shortages, they have been working to limit the spread of the coronavirus, while also deflecting political pressure from other officials and anger from the public over business closures and mask mandates.

“California’s local health officers have been working tirelessly since the start of the pandemic, using science to guide policy,” said Kat DeBurgh, the executive director of the Health Officers Association of California. “It is regrettable that this order was necessary — but we are grateful for it nevertheless.”

Nationwide, at least 61 state or local health leaders in 27 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April, according to a review by The Associated Press and KHN, a figure that has doubled since the newsrooms first began tracking the departures in June.

Thirteen of those departures have been in California, including 11 county health officials and the state’s two top public health officials.

Dr. Sonia Angell, former director of the California Department of Public Health and state public health officer, quit in early August after a series of glitches in the state’s infectious disease reporting system caused weeks-long delays in reporting cases of COVID-19.

In Placer County, north of Sacramento, health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson resigned effective Sept. 25 after the county Board of Supervisors voted to end its local COVID-19 health emergency. “It is with a heavy heart that I submit this letter of resignation,” she wrote in her resignation letter. “Today’s action by the Placer County Board of Supervisors made it clear that I can no longer effectively serve in my role.”

Organizations across the state have expressed concern over the treatment of health officials during the pandemic, including the California Medical Association.

“Basic science has become politicized in so many parts of our state, and our country,” wrote California Medical Association president Dr. Peter N. Bretan Jr. in a statement after Sisson’s departure. “Public health officers are public servants who seek to do what their job description states — to protect public health.”

The executive order also directs the state to assess impacts of the pandemic on health care providers and health care service plans, and halts evictions for commercial renters through March 31, 2021, among other pandemic-related matters.

KHN and California Healthline correspondent Angela Hart, KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber and Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith contributed to this report.Ìý

This story was produced by , which publishes , an editorially independent service of the .

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Ungar also spoke on about the story, explaining how the cuts hampered the state’s ability to respond to the pandemic. Watch here:

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about .

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).