Jefferson County Public Health Director Discusses Hardships of Working in Public Health During the Pandemic

Tuesday, December 28th, 2021 -- 12:00 PM

(Bob Hague, WRN) Jefferson County Public Health Director Gail Scott is retiring after 40 years of service.

In a Sunday interview with WISN’s “UpFront,” Scott related some of the “demoralizing and threatening” reactions from the public, as she and her staff worked to keep people safe from the coronavirus.

"I was threatened with getting fired. I was threatened with gun violence, and we've been threatened that we were going to be taken to court for crimes against humanity. My staff has been threatened. We’ve had a couple of issues where we had to call law enforcement in. And we’ve had one protest. And what really hurt is when people said we were lying, because we were not lying.”

Scott said she and her staff did see some positive public reaction, such as when they held a mass vaccination clinic and 500 volunteers came to help. Other people thanked them and showed appreciation for their work on the pandemic.

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