In a pandemic that has been going on for two years, there have been numerous reports about workers — especially those in the health care field — burning out.
The long hours, the worries over their own health and that of their family, and the emotional stress of caring for the seriously ill, especially those who refused to take the steps that could have protected them, can take their toll.
One has to wonder if Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the head of Mississippi’s public health agency and the point person on all things COVID-related, is among the burnout victims.
It was announced this week that Dobbs has decided to give up his job leading the Mississippi State Department of Health at the end of July. An epidemiologist by training, Dobbs wants to return to academia and teach about public health and infectious diseases.
He certainly will have a lot of experience from which to draw.
Ever since COVID-19 arrived in Mississippi, Dobbs has been in the public spotlight trying to manage the virus in order to minimize the loss of life and keep the state’s hospitals from being overwhelmed.
The mortality and vaccination numbers would suggest that he hasn’t been as successful as he would have liked. Mississippi has had the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the country and one of the lowest vaccination rates. But it wasn’t as if Dobbs didn’t try to reverse those trends.
Too often his audience wouldn’t listen, despite the overwhelming science that argued in favor of masks, social distancing and inoculation. It didn’t help that Mississippi’s governor, whose pulpit was larger than that of Dobbs, sometimes acted or spoke in ways that contradicted the chief health officer’s advice, such as by attending large public gatherings during an infection surge or questioning the efficacy of masking.
Dobbs has tried to stay calm and rational while emphasizing the serious danger that COVID-19 has posed, particularly in Mississippi with so many underlying risk factors. He has rarely lost his cool, even though he has had plenty of provocation to do so.
His job has required him to make some tough decisions during the worst stages of the pandemic, such as limiting the elective surgeries at hospitals while knowing that would worsen their financial condition. His positions have not always been popular, but they have been scientifically sound, following the guidance of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s leading authority on infectious diseases.
All indications are that COVID-19 is getting to a manageable level. If so, Dobbs may be departing at an opportune time. He has seen the state through the worst of this scourge. Someone else can handle the next, less stressful phase.
