The Impacts of Politicization on Public Health Workers: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Oregon and Montana

Abstract

Context: The contributions of the field of public health to human society are numerous, and often taken for granted. The COVID-19 pandemic thrust the largely invisible public health workforce into the public eye. Like other career civil servants at the intersection of the citizen-state encounter, reports of uncooperative, hostile, and even violent confrontations between public health workers and those they serve are on the rise. This study explores the attitudes of public health professionals in two states in the American west. Methods: Anonymous, web-based survey of public health professionals in Montana and Oregon, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Public health workers reported beliefs that the COVID-19 pandemic was politicized by actors in the government, by both major political parties, by the media, and by the public broadly. This politicization affected workers abilities to do their jobs, with respondents in Montana experiencing more negative impacts than those in Oregon. Conclusions: The growing antagonism public health workers face today from the public and pressure from political leaders poses a significant concern for the public health workforce and for communities as they prepare to address and overcome future public health challenges.

Stewards of Society: Preparedness and Perceptions Among the Unsung Heroes of Public Health Service Delivery

“…However, whereas state politics in Oregon are currently dominated by the Democratic Party, the Republican Party currently dominates politics in the state of Montana. Since the pandemic response was heavily politicized both nationally and locally (Barsky & Camarillo, 2023), these political distinctions make the case study states interesting comparators for this analysis.…”