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180 Public Health Leaders Left in the Largest Exodus in American History. Armed Protesters Showed Up at Their Homes.

Resist Now Updated July 14, 2026 4 min read
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180 Leaders Gone

More than 180 state and local public health leaders in at least 38 states resigned, retired, or were fired since April 2020. ABC News called it “the largest exodus of public health officials in American history.” NPR described the departures as happening at a “steady and alarming” rate.

180+ public health leaders gone across 38 states. The largest exodus in American history. Then the administration fired the CDC director.

These were the people who managed disease surveillance, coordinated vaccination campaigns, tracked outbreaks, and made decisions about quarantines and school closures. They were not politicians. They were epidemiologists, administrators, and physicians who spent their careers in public service.

Armed Protesters at Their Homes

Ohio’s state health director, Dr. Amy Acton, resigned in June 2020 after months of pressure. Republican lawmakers tried to strip her authority. Armed protesters showed up at her house. She quit.

In Colorado, at least 20 health officials resigned after facing threats. In West Virginia, the governor forced the resignation of the Public Health Commissioner. In Kansas, the Reno County health director resigned after being targeted.

Dr. Anthony Fauci reported death threats against himself, his wife, and his daughters. The threats were serious enough to require a security detail.

2025: The CDC Director Was Fired

In August 2025, the White House fired CDC Director Susan Monarez. CDC officials were escorted from headquarters. Three senior officials, Dr. Debra Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, resigned in response.

The agency that tracks and responds to disease outbreaks lost its director, three senior leaders, and a quarter to a third of its staff in a single year. The proposed budget would cut the CDC by 53% and eliminate 61 programs. Disease surveillance has been suspended.

The Timeline

2020: Armed protesters at health directors’ homes. 180 officials leave. 2025: CDC director fired. Senior officials resign. Staff cut by a third.

2026: Measles at a 30-year high. CDC budget facing 53% cut. FDA lost 3,500 employees. 383 NIH trials halted.

The people who knew how to manage outbreaks were driven out. The people who replaced them are managing the worst measles outbreak in a generation with a fraction of the resources.

Update, June 9, 2026: Public trust in the CDC has fallen to 50% of U.S. adults, down from 77% in 2025, according to a poll of 2,205 adults released Tuesday by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation. Half of Americans said they trust federal public health recommendations less since President Trump began his second term.

Brian Castrucci, president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, said the findings show a “deep polarization of facts and science.” Only 14% of Democrats approve of what federal public health agencies have done since January 2025, compared with 80% of Republicans. Gillian SteelFisher, director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, noted that CDC trust held between 74% and 78% from 2022 through 2025 before the current decline.

State and local health departments, which absorbed many officials who departed federal posts, retain higher but falling trust: 66% for state agencies and 70% for local agencies, both down from roughly 80% and 82%, respectively, in 2025. Sixty-eight percent of Americans said they believe CDC recommendations are now shaped by leaders’ personal beliefs rather than scientific evidence.

Update, July 14, 2026: The Ada County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on June 16 to reappoint Dr. Ryan Cole, a vaccine-skeptic Idaho pathologist, to the Central District Health board for a term ending June 2031. Central District Health serves Ada, Boise, Elmore, and Valley counties and is Idaho’s largest public health district. Board chairman Greg Ferch, a chiropractor who recommended the reappointment, told the Idaho Capital Sun he is open to the district reconsidering whether to offer COVID vaccines.

Cole’s medical license in Washington state was restricted after regulators found he spread COVID misinformation and treated COVID patients with ivermectin outside approved protocols. The Idaho Board of Medicine reached a separate agreement with Cole in 2025 requiring him to comply with the Washington disciplinary order. Cole also let his Idaho medical license lapse in 2024, in apparent conflict with a state law requiring at least one licensed physician on health district boards, then reinstated it and renewed it through May 2030.

In 2024, the Southwest Idaho Health District voted to stop offering COVID vaccines following testimony by Cole and other doctors, according to Boise State Public Radio. In March, Cole was named head of medical and scientific affairs at the Independent Medical Alliance, which the Idaho Statesman reported promotes unproven COVID treatments.

Sources

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