Spectrum

While most of the focus, during this time of crisis, has been on our major metropolitan areas and big-city hospitals, state public health officials and local county health commissioners have been working overtime to make sure we are as safe as possible. State Public Health doctors, like Dr. Amy Acton in Ohio and others have led the way in advising governors and assuring the public of up-to-date information and warnings, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, executive dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and medical affairs officer at Ohio University. Public Health professionals have been the leaders in social distancing and other mitigation steps that have helped to blunt the curve of new COVID-19 cases. Normally, public health doctors seldom gain any notoriety, but this health crisis has put many into the spotlight. We have been able to see a system working that is mostly invisible to us in normal times, Dr. Johnson says. This includes the local county health commissioner who do the bulk of the “con