Prime Montgomery County Well being Official Transferring on After ‘Marathon’ Pandemic – NBC4 Washington

Montgomery County’s Director of Health became a household name during the coronavirus pandemic, but now Dr. Travis Gayles is preparing for the next step in his career.

Gayles said the past 18 months have been like an “ongoing marathon”.

“I’m not a marathon runner, but I can imagine that is how it feels, especially when you see the end and the finish line,” he said.

In less than two weeks, Gayles will be leaving the Dennis Avenue Health Center for the last time, leaving the county to end the race without his most prominent public health voice.

Gayles joins Hazel Health, a San Francisco-based startup providing telehealth services to K-12 schools.

“As a pediatrician, as someone who has researched and worked in the field my entire career, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to continue this particular mission, but at the same time you are exhausted,” he said.

Gayles first found out about COVID-19 in late 2019. The county had no confirmed cases, but that changed within a few weeks.

Gayles and his team of doctors, epidemiologists, and other public health experts tried to fend off an invisible enemy, but soon found themselves caught in a health system full of injustices.

“Many of the health decisions we have had to make have been compounded by long-standing inequalities and inequalities in systems,” said Gayles.

The public health response to address these inequalities often brings the county into conflict with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

“I stand by the choices we make because they are based on data and science to keep our residents safe,” said Gayles.

“Our job is to say what is healthiest for communities and what keeps people safe,” he said.

Communicating these bitter truths during the weekly COVID-19 briefings made Gayles a target of racist and homophobic abuse.

“You develop thick skin and brush off a lot of things, but you get to a point where you think, we’re trying to protect people as best we can,” he said.

Gayles is joining a number of public health officials who are leaving their jobs across the country. He said the ongoing politicization of the pandemic is pushing many of them to exit.

Gayles said lessons still need to be learned to better prepare for the next pandemic.

“When a pandemic highlights and draws attention to these differences, this is the time to address them,” he said. “This is the time for this work, and if we don’t, we will regret it in five, 10, 20 years.”