US public health workers leaving ‘in droves’ amid pandemic burnout

Many workers feel stonewalled by elected officials and scapegoated for the high US Covid death toll

Alexandra was working in the public health emergencies unit in a major north-eastern American city when the first wave of the pandemic hit. Although her job was in public health policy research, and not treating Coovid-19 patients on the frontlines of the healthcare system, she recalls the spring of 2020 as a blur of 24-hour shifts.

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