Placer health officer resigns in protest after supervisors lift COVID-19 state of emergency
Placer County’s public health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson resigned Tuesday in protest over the county’s Board of Supervisors’ decision the same day to declare that the county no longer recognizes COVID-19 as an emergency.
Sisson, who led the county through the early days and months of the COVID-19 pandemic, submitted her resignation in a letter to county Executive Todd Leopold immediately after the board rescinded the emergency declaration it had passed earlier this spring when the virus first hit.
“Today’s action by the Placer County Board of Supervisors made it clear that I can no longer effectively serve in my role as Placer County Health Officer and Public Health Director,” she wrote. “I am grateful to have been granted the tremendous privilege and responsibility of protecting and promoting the health of Placer County’s 400,000 residents over the last 10 months.”
Sisson did not immediately respond to a Sacramento Bee request for further comment.
Two of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top health officials issued a statement, however, in support of Sisson and county health officials in general. Sisson is the latest of a handful of officials who have quit or been forced out of their jobs during the crisis amid internal local government fights and public vitriol over how to deal with the pandemic.
“(County health officers) have earned our respect, support, and patience, not resistance, division, and threats,” Dr. Erica Pan, acting state public health officer, and Sandra Shewry, acting public health director, wrote in an email to The Bee.
Placer County board chairwoman Bonnie Gore said she respects Sisson’s stance, but that the board is taking a broader view of public health than Sisson, balancing the COVID-19 infection and death numbers with the need to get businesses and the economy going, and with the need to improve mental and emotional health of county residents.
“At the end of the day, our board had a direction that she didn’t believe she could support,” Gore said. “The difference is, she and the governor and the state have been very focused on COVID health and I have looked at this as a public health issue (beyond) COVID. How it is affecting our mental health and our emotional health of our residents.
“Our case numbers are so low, it doesn’t warrant a shutdown.”
Placer has experienced 3,238 cases in the last six months, an 36 deaths. Its infection rate currently is low. The county reported 18 new cases on Wednesday.
Gore said that businesses and residents are still obligated to follow state COVID rules, but she said the county does not intend to enforce those rules itself, even if it receives complaints from residents about businesses. It would be up to the state, Gore said, to step in if, for instance, the state believes a restaurant or hair salon is violating state rules or guidelines for operations.
Sisson will leave her position Sept. 25, she said. That makes her one of nearly a dozen county health officers who have resigned over the course of the six-month pandemic. Several others quit amid pressure to reopen local economies, according to various reports.
Pan and Shewry, the state Department of Public Health officials, said in their email they support Sisson and other county health officers who have been pushing the public health message while getting sometimes angry pushback from some local leaders and residents.
“California’s public health officials work around the clock to implement data-driven and evidence-based measures needed to keep their communities healthy and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the pair wrote. “These hardworking public servants are crucial partners in our collective efforts to stop disease transmission, and they have earned our respect, support, and patience, not resistance, division, and threats.
“We stand behind our local public health officials and encourage our communities to come together and keep each other safe.”
“Over the past seven months with Dr. Sisson’s leadership, Placer County has succeeded in limiting the spread of COVID-19, leaving us well positioned to continue safely reopening our economy while still taking necessary precautions,” said Placer County Executive Officer Todd Leopold in a news release. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Sisson joined Placer County public health team in October 2019. She oversaw the county’s response to the pandemic since February when Placer County recorded the first confirmed COVID-19 death in the region. Since then, she has been involved in numerous initiatives to curb the spread of the virus, including, most recently, working with the Placer County Office of Education to secure a
“Placer County will immediately begin the search for a new health officer in collaboration with incoming Health and Human Services Director Dr. Rob Oldham and the county Board of Supervisors,” the county said.
Sisson’s resignation comes a day after Placer County was downgraded from the most state’s most restrictive level of coronavirus monitoring to the second most restrictive, allowing some businesses and schools to reopen.
On Tuesday, the county’s Board of Supervisors also voted unanimously to end the county’s local state of emergency.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Placer health officer resigns in protest after supervisors lift COVID-19 state of emergency."