Harassment online.

Harassment in person.

Threats of violence and even violence itself.

In the last year, amid the pandemic, public health workers have experienced more direct attacks than at any time in the previous century.

I'm Lindsay Smith Rogers, producer of Public Health on Call.

This week, as part of National Public Health Week,

we're bringing you a special four-part series with episodes excerpted from a webcast from last month.

The webcast was produced in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial

Health Officials, known as Asto, the National Association of County and City Health Officials,

known as NACO, and the Big Cities Health Coalition. In this series, we will explore the extraordinary

challenges facing the field of public health in the COVID era.

We'll hear from health officers on the front lines about their experiences,

from researchers about the scale of the problem,

and from the leaders of Asto, NACO, and the Big Cities Health Coalition about what is to be done.

In part one, we'll hear a message from Dr. Rochelle

Walenski, the new director of the CDC.

Then we'll hear from three public health officers,

Dr. Mysheka Roberts, Dr. Greg Holtzman,

and Dr. Jennifer Bacani-McKennie about the significant challenges

they and their staff have faced during the pandemic.

If there is one aspect of public health work that is universal, it is that we are all committed

to doing the right thing for health. I know many of you went into public health out of a desire

...