Dozens of public health officials are quitting during pandemic

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Health officials across the country are calling it quits in the midst of a global pandemic as otherwise below-the-radar public servants become the targets of anger and frustration in a hyperpartisan age.

In some cases, government health officials have quit or been removed from their jobs after clashing with elected leaders.

New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot resigned this month after feuding with Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). Health officials in Texas, Indiana and Montana have quit in recent weeks after politicians overrode their advice on requiring masks and prohibiting public events. Continue reading.

Fauci says family has faced threats, harassment amid pandemic

The Hill logoAnthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he and his family are getting death threats because people don’t like what he says about COVID-19.

“Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it’s amazing,” Fauci said during an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on Wednesday.

“I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it and don’t like what you and I say, namely in the world of science, that they actually threaten you,” he added. Continue reading.