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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 11 augusT 2020
Health officials are quitting or getting fired amid outbreak

Continued from Front for family reasons, and 2008 recession, leaving a
some left for jobs at other skeletal workforce for what
The departures are making agencies, such as the U.S. was once viewed as one of
a bad situation worse, at a Centers for Disease Con- the world’s top public he-
time when the U.S. needs trol and Prevention. Some alth systems.
good public health lea- were ousted because of Another sudden departure
dership the most, said Lori what higher-ups said was came Monday along the
Tremmel Freeman, CEO of poor leadership or a failure Texas border. Dr. Jose Va-
the National Association of to do their job. zquez, the Starr County he-
County and City Health Of- Others have complained alth authority, resigned af-
ficials. that they were overwor- ter a proposal to increase
“We’re moving at break- ked, underpaid, unappre- his pay from $500 to $10,000
neck speed here to stop a ciated or thrust into a pres- a month was rejected by
pandemic, and you can’t sure-cooker environment. county commissioners.
afford to hit the pause but- Public health leaders from Starr County Judge Eloy
ton and say, ‘We’re going Dr. Anthony Fauci down A sample is collected at a Texas Division of Emergency Vera said Vazquez had
to change the leadership to officials in small com- Management free COVID-19 testing site at Minute Maid Park been working 60 hours per
around here and we’ll get munities have reported Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020, in Houston. week in the county, one of
back to you after we hire death threats and intimida- Associated Press the poorest in the U.S. and
somebody,’” Freeman tion. Some have seen their Counties District Health was critical of Slemp’s firing recently one of those hit
said. home addresses published Department in Colorado and said it was deeply con- hardest by the virus.
As of Monday, confirmed or have been the subject found her car vandalized cerning that public health “He felt it was an insult,”
infections in the United of sexist attacks on social twice, and a group cal- officials who told “uncom- Vera said.
States stood at over 5 mil- media. Fauci has said his led Colorado Counties for fortable truths” to political The months of nonstop and
lion, with deaths topping wife and daughters have Freedom ran a radio ad leaders had been remo- often unappreciated work
163,000, the highest in received threats. demanding that her autho- ved. are prompting many public
the world, according to In Ohio, the state’s health rity be reduced. Kim Gon- “That’s terrible for the na- health workers to leave,
the count kept by Johns director, Dr. Amy Acton, re- zales has remained on the tional response because said Theresa Anselmo of
Hopkins University. signed in June after months job. West Virginia Gov. Jim what we need for getting the Colorado Association
Many of the firings and of pressure during which Justice forced the resigna- through this, first of all, is the of Local Public Health Of-
resignations have to do Republican lawmakers tion of Public Health Com- truth. We need data and ficials.
with conflicts over mask tried to strip her of her aut- missioner Dr. Cathy Slemp we need people to inter- “It will certainly slow down
orders or social distancing hority and armed protesters in June over what he said pret the data and help po- the pandemic response
shutdowns, Freeman said. showed up at her house. were discrepancies in the litical leaders make good and become less coordi-
Many politicians and ordi- It was on Acton’s advice data. Slemp said the de- judgments,” Inglesby said. nated,” she said. “Who’s
nary Americans have ar- that GOP Gov. Mike DeWi- partment’s work had been Since 2010, spending on going to want to take on
gued that such measures ne became the first gover- hurt by outdated techno- state public health de- this career if you’re con-
are not needed, contrary nor to shut down schools logy like fax machines and partments has dropped fronted with the kinds of
to the scientific evidence statewide. Acton also cal- slow computer networks. 16% per capita, and the political issues that are co-
and the advice of health led off the state’s presiden- “We are driving a great amount devoted to local ming up?”
experts. tial primary in March just aunt’s Pinto when what health departments has In Oklahoma, both the
“It’s not a health divide; it’s hours before polls were to you need is to be driving a fallen 18%, according to state health commissioner
a political divide,” Freeman open, angering those who Ferrari,” Slemp said. a KHN and AP analysis. At and state epidemiologist
said. saw it as an overreaction. Tom Inglesby, director of least 38,000 state and lo- have been replaced sin-
Some health officials said The executive director the Center for Health Se- cal public health jobs have ce the outbreak began in
they were stepping down of Las Animas-Huerfano curity at Johns Hopkins, disappeared since the March. q

Trump: Convention speech locale is White House or Gettysburg

WASHINGTON (AP) — for alternatives that would political event. The presi-
Searching for a symbolic allow him to recreate at dent is not covered by the
substitute for his virus-scut- least some of the pomp of Hatch Act, which prohibits
tled plans for an arena cel- the event. political activity by near-
ebration, President Donald "We have narrowed the ly all federal employees,
Trump said Monday that Presidential Nomination though White House and
his acceptance speech for Acceptance Speech, to other federal officials sup-
the Republican presidential be delivered on the final porting the event are.
nomination will be held at night of the Convention The Civil War battlefield in
either the White House or (Thursday), to two loca- Pennsylvania could also
the Gettysburg battlefield. tions - The Great Battlefield resurface the president's President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up to members of the
The president's initial hopes of Gettysburg, Pennsylva- repeated defense of mon- media as he walks across the South Lawn as he arrives at the
for the event to be a four- nia, and the White House, uments to heroes of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020, after returning
day infomercial for his re- Washington, D.C.," Trump Confederacy. from Morristown, N.J.
election bid have been tweeted Monday. Trump has previously turned Associated Press
steadily constrained by the He added that a decision to national parks and mon- May, he gave an interview Staging a convention
coronavirus pandemic, cul- on the location of the Aug. uments to hold politically to Fox News inside the Lin- speech at Gettysburg,
minating in his decision last 27 speech will be made tinged events, including a coln Memorial, a move though, would go a step
month to cancel nearly all soon. July 4 event on the Nation- that required special dis- further, and raise questions
of the in-person proceed- Both sites are federal prop- al Mall in 2019 and one at pensation from his appoint- about politicizing the site of
ing. In recent weeks, Trump erty raising legal and ethi- Mount Rushmore in South ed secretary of the Interior, the deadliest battle of the
and his aides have looked cal issues for their use in a Dakota just last month. In David Bernhardt. Civil War. q