Embattled Public Health Workers Leaving At 'Steady And Alarming' Rate

Lauri Jones has been working in public health in Washington state's Okanogan County for 17 years. After repeated recent threats to her safety, she recently got a new security system for her home.

"I still find myself sometimes looking over my shoulder," Jones says. "Especially if I walk out of the building and it's getting obviously dark earlier."

She's not leaving her post as the county's community health director. But her colleague Dr. John McCarthy is leaving in December. He says the workload has become too heavy.

"I know that my colleague [Lauri Jones] was threatened multiple times, and in social media, and in very inappropriate ways," McCarthy says. "We don't have to be happy that there's a pandemic going on, but to blame individuals is not going to be helpful."