Dr. Olivia Kasirye Praised For COVID Response Despite Being ‘Abandoned’
The Sacramento Grand Jury
investigating Sacramento County’s use of federal COVID-19 funds has validated
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, the Black woman who has led the region’s pandemic response.
The Grand Jury has found
that the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors “abandoned the Public Health
Office as COVID-19 emergency engulfed Sacramento.” Following a nearly year-long
secret investigation, the Grand Jury concluded that the Sacramento County Board
of Supervisors “made questionable and opaque maneuvers that skirted the intent
of the CARES Act, to the benefit of County coffers and with scant regard for
the needs of its citizens.”
As first reported by the
Sacramento OBSERVER, the County Board of Supervisors allowed then County
Executive Nav Gill to give $132.86 million of its federal pandemic response
funds for payroll for public health and safety employees, with the Sheriff’s
Department receiving 78%, $104.2 million, of that money. The OBSERVER obtained
documents from a whistleblower back in 2020 that detailed the spending.
“An extensive
investigation into the handling of the COVID-19 crisis by the Sacramento County
Office of Public Health (OPH) has led the Grand Jury to find that the County
Board of Supervisors ignored its Public Health Officer for five months before
finally engaging in any sort of dialogue regarding the County’s COVID-19
activities and its impact on County residents,” reads a statement released
earlier this month.
Being well-versed in
public health crises like ebola and the H1N1 flu of 2009, Public Health Officer
Kasirye responded immediately when the current coronavirus pandemic hit in
early 2020 and continually sought the funds and support to protect County
residents.
“Despite asking for
assistance early on, Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye was allowed to
appear before the County Supervisors only after Board members received a
confidential email from Dr. Kasirye,” the Grand Jury’s statement reads. “The
Board’s apathy during the most significant public health emergency in over a
century, one that impacted every resident of Sacramento County, delayed needed
OPH program funding and undercut public health order enforcement.”
During August 2020 board
meetings, Gill repeatedly maintained that “anything (departments) asked for
they got.” He practically dared Dr. Kasirye to contradict him.
Kasirye stood her ground
and remained adamant that her department needed more funds to respond to the
continued pandemic, which was forecasted to still be making an impact well into
2021. That was before the Delta and Omicron variants wreaked havoc. In documents obtained by The OBSERVER, Dr.
Kasirye originally requested $90 million for public health costs related to
COVID-19.
Needs included laboratory
operations support, personal protective equipment, two vehicles for pop-up
COVID-19 testing, a strike team that would conduct mass testing in congregate
settings like nursing homes and other areas where outbreaks have occurred;
paying for eight laboratory technicians and four microbiologists needed to
process tests including on evenings and weekends to meet the demand; paying for
four epidemiologists to conduct data analysis and monitor vulnerable
populations; and paying for four health educators to help with community
outreach efforts.
Dr. Kasirye said the
process for the first request from Gill’s committee to submit what their needs
were was “unclear” and they continued to get mixed messages and erroneous
information about requesting funds. She and then-County Health Director Dr.
Peter Beilensen were forced to repeatedly ask the Board of Supervisors for more
money in piecemeal fashion.
Dr. Kasirye was among
those who filed several lawsuits against Gill, who was ultimately made to step
down from his position after the Board of Supervisors issued a vote of no
confidence against him in light of the CARES Act funding scandal. While she
didn’t want the details of the lawsuit played out publicly, Dr. Kasirye did
issue a statement at the time.
“Nav Gill made it clear to
me from the beginning of this pandemic that he was not pleased with my request
to declare a Health Emergency. From then on, through intimidation and
manipulation, he created blocks at every step in issuing Health Officer
Orders,” she said. “He withheld resources despite our multiple requests for funding,
and sought to silence me and alienate me. All this caused me a lot of anxiety,
and were it not for support from the Public Health staff and County Counsel, I
would not have been able to do my job.”
Foreperson Deanna Hanson
said the Grand Jury was dumbfounded that the County Board of Supervisors seemed
completely disconnected from the Office of Public Health in the midst of the
pandemic crisis.
The Grand Jury is
recommending that the County Board of Supervisors, Gill’s successor Anne
Edwards, and the County Office of Public Health jointly develop a public health
emergency response plan that will aid in the implementation of future public
health orders and best ensure the safety of Sacramento County residents.
Dr. Kasirye previously
told The OBSERVER that it was hard for her, her staff and volunteers to face
people’s vitriol about the pandemic, the restrictive mandates and vaccination.
Getting blocked by County officials, who were supposed to be on the same team,
had to be crushing. However, she “went high” and remained focused.
“What I have found is that
people do respect the office that I hold, regardless of what other thoughts
they might have about me,” she said. “So what I always remind myself is that
the important thing is the words and the advice that I provide, always trying
to make sure that I provide good information, always trying to show that I’m
doing my best to take care of the communities that I’m responsible for.”
The Observer
By Genoa Barrow
April 18, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment