Local Public Health Workers Report Hostile Threats And Fears About Contact Tracing

During her 17 years running Okanogan County's small public health department in eastern Washington, Lauri Jones rarely encountered any controversy.

"Usually, we kind of sit here under the radar," says Jones, whose department before the pandemic was mostly known for mundane duties such as recording births, issuing permits for septic tanks, and investigating reports of food poisoning.

But that all changed when the coronavirus pandemic began in March.

Jones and her staff are now highly visible members of the government in Okanogan County, as they help steer the local response to the outbreak. She's had to tell local businesses to stay closed, track down residents who could be infected and tell people to isolate or quarantine themselves.

And she has noticed wariness, suspicion, and even outrage creep into the conversations about her work, among some members of her community.

"For the first time, people are hearing terms like 'contact tracing' and 'case investigation,' and those frighten them for some reason," Jones says.