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Hopkins Study Documents Harassment
And Violence Against Epidemiologists And Other Public Health
Professionals
Threats Have Been
Ongoing Throughout The Pandemic
Better Supports
And Protections Called For
Media accounts of
resignations, harassment, and threats to epidemiologists and other
public health professionals have been reported in the media since the
pandemic of COVID-19 began in early 2020. A mixed-methods study of
these incidents from March 2020-January 2021 has now been published in
the American Journal of Public Health by Julie Ward and colleagues at
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It documents at
least 1,499 harassment experiences and 222 job departures over the
first 11 months of the pandemic.
Themes
Through theme
analysis, the investigators also described other negative outcomes.
These are:
1) the expertise of
the epidemiologists and other public health professionals was
marginalized and disregarded,
2) they were
portrayed, especially in rural communities, to be villains instead of
public servants and trusted community members,
3) they suffered from
the politicization of public health policies,
4) they experienced
disillusionment for a variety of reasons, and
5) they had to
function in an underfunded and understaffed public health
infrastructure.
Recent Experience
The Hopkins
investigators have continued to collect data for the period subsequent
to January 2021, according to Beth Resnick, a co-author of the
AJPH paper. She told the Epi Monitor “We are currently doing
additional research for the year 2021 - so we do not yet have any
official information yet, but yes anecdotally for sure harassment and
intimidation against health officials and their staff continued, as we
saw during our study, but to what scope and extent I am unable to
comment at this point.”
Recommendations
The Hopkins team has
been very proactive in seeking to support and protect the public
health workforce. For example, Resnick testified in Congress in
September of last year and described several urgent tasks she believes
need to be carried out. They are:
1. Stop the harassment
and violence against the public health workforce.
This has two parts. According to Resnick, CDC should establish a
national reporting system for incidents of violence against the public
health workforce, and the federal government should provide legal
protections for public health workers facing harassment and violence.
2. Protect the
statutory authority of public health.
Surprisingly, state legislatures have passed laws which undermine
public health authority. This recommendation would involve
implementing legal strategies and funding incentives to support
effective emergency public health authority at the state and local
levels.
3. Rebuild the public
health system.
It has been neglected since the financial challenges of 2008 and has
left the country unprepared for the pandemic, according to the Hopkins
group. Congress should guarantee multi-year funding for state and
local public health agency infrastructure, make a sustained investment
in the workforce, and modernize the data systems of public health.
Call to Action
A call to action has
been issued by partner organizations including the Association of
State and Territorial Health Officials, the Big Cities Health
Coalition, the National Association of County and City Health
Officials, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Several
organizations have responded to the call by agreeing to stand with
public health. A Stop! Partner Group has been formed to bring about
the reforms needed. Readers may learn more at:
https://bit.ly/3wyYoV3
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