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Wearing down the experts, at our peril

caption: Public health workers are being overworked, and then ignored.
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Public health workers are being overworked, and then ignored.

“Expertise is not a renewable resource. It is finite. There is only so much of it to go around, and we are throwing it away.”

Public health experts are working around the clock offering prevention measures that the government fails to implement – and receiving death threats for their pains. Several high level officials have departed their posts in recent weeks.

Science writer Ed Yong's latest piece for The Atlantic, on burnout among public health researchers and the dangers that that poses to our COVID-19 response, is called “The Pandemic Experts Are Not Okay.”

The nation’s fumbling response to the pandemic means we need public health workers more than ever, and the pernicious defunding and devaluing of their work over time is resulting in grave consequences for America.

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