(heroic electronic music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS-9 newsroom.

Politics and the pandemic are driving a mass exodus of public health leaders in Washington.

Erica Lautenbach likes to joke that she has the worst job in Whatcom County.

As director of the Whatcom county Health Department, she's the face of the County's Coronavirus response.

While logging 70 hour weeks, Lautenbach and her staff have faced resistance from the very residents they're trying to protect.

Email threats, irate officials, and dealing with misinformation have become part of the job.

In Spokane, the Board of Health is still in an uproar after the controversial firing of Health Officer Bob Lutz in October of last year.

Nationally, at least 248 public health leaders resigned, retired, or were fired between April, 2020 and March, 2021.

Many of those who remain are suffering mental health issues typically prevalent among war veterans and trauma survivors.

I'm Starla Sampaco.

Find nonprofit Northwest news every day on crosscut.com.

(heroic electronic music)