Public Health Workers In Kansas Walk Away Over Pressure From Pandemic Politics

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/04/943195352/public-health-workers-in-kansas-walk-away-over-pressure-from-pandemic-politics

December 4, 20204:32 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

James McLean 

 

In July, Nick Baldetti resigned as director of the Reno County Health Department in Kansas.

But it wasn't the 80-hour workweeks that drove him to quit, it was the hostile political environment and threats to Baldetti's family.

"I had the local police watching my house because my family was home and I was not," said Baldetti, who also served as the department's health officer. "There was a period of time that I had escorts to and from work."

Baldetti spent years preparing to deal with a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. He never imagined that when the moment arrived, he would encounter such antagonism for simply doing his job.

"By the end of the day, you just felt like you were on an island by yourself," he said. "Whatever decision I made, 50% of people were going to be upset because it was too 'restrictive' and the other 50% were going to be upset because it wasn't restrictive enough."

Baldetti's story isn't unique. The pressure of dealing with the pandemic and the politics surrounding it has triggered an exodus of public health workers in Kansas.

In the nine months since the state's first documented coronavirus infection, 27 county health officials have left their posts. Some retired, but others resigned or were fired.

The same pressures are thinning the ranks of local public health officials across the country. Many are leaving because they've been physically threatened or "politically scapegoated" for doing their jobs, Lori Freeman, chief executive of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told NPR.

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