Sacramento County health officer who led COVID-19 response announces retirement
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, who led Sacramento County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will retire in March after 14 years as the county’s public health officer and more than two decades of service in the region.
“While our team was and always has been prepared for an outbreak, none of us could have predicted how different this one would be and continues to be,” Kasirye, who held frequent video news briefings and town halls during the peak of COVID-19 spread, wrote about the pandemic in a January 2022 opinion column for The Sacramento Bee. “We activated a plan similar to our responses to previous respiratory outbreaks, including SARS and the H1N1 and avian flus.”
County officials announced Kasirye’s retirement Wednesday in a news release. Members of the county’s Board of Supervisors praised her qualities as a health care leader and willingness to safeguard vulnerable residents.
“Dr. Kasirye’s leadership has meant stability and trust for Sacramento County,” Supervisor Patrick Kennedy said in the news release. “We owe her a great deal for getting us through the pandemic. She led with transparency and put the health of the community first. We are grateful for her service.”
Kasirye set five priorities when she became the public health officer: strengthening disease response, reducing health disparities confronting the opioid epidemic, building a resilient workforce and achieving public health accreditation.
The county achieved national public health accreditation in November. Under Kasirye’s direction, the health department also built new equity and nursing units, expanded partnerships to improve birth outcomes and launched campaigns to prevent opioid overdoses among youth.
“Leading Sacramento County Public Health has been an extraordinary privilege,” Kasirye said in the news release. “I am most grateful for all of you. This community has shown strength and commitment to protecting each other during all the good times and in the face of many challenging times as well. That and the remarkable team at SCPH are what inspires me every day.”
Kasirye began her career in Sacramento County in 2004 as a senior physician manager. Kasirye became El Dorado County’s public health officer in 2009, and she returned in 2012 to lead Sacramento County Public Health.
“Dr. Kasirye has been a compassionate and dedicated leader for Sacramento County,” Supervisor Phil Serna said in the news release. “She guided us through unprecedented exigencies with rigor, significantly advanced health equity and safeguarded our most vulnerable residents. She leaves an enduring legacy.”
In her January 2022 opinion piece for The Bee, Kasirye said her entire team worked around-the-clock in the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to identify travelers coming from China, issuing quarantine orders and providing food, basic needs, testing and monitoring of those who tested positive.
Kasirye remembered the stay-at-home orders to prevent further spread of the virus. She said impatience from the public, as the shutdown continued month after month, turned to anger that was fueled in large part by misinformation on social media.
“Finally, in late 2020, a vaccine brought a huge wave of relief. Our office heard story after story of residents desperate for protection,” Kasirye wrote. “I personally administered a vaccine to a homeless man in an encampment near our offices. With tears in his eyes, he told me he wanted the vaccine but didn’t think he’d be welcome at a traditional clinic.”
County officials said Kasirye will work with Department of Health Services Director Tim Lutz over the next several months to guide the transition and help identify the county’s next health officer.
“Dr. Kasirye has been an exceptional leader,” County Executive David Villanueva said in the news release. “She built strong teams and responded decisively to complex public health challenges. We deeply appreciate her decades of service.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 4:12 PM.
