By the Associated Press

Public health workers across Kansas are leaving their jobs amid the pressures of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and the politics surrounding it.

In the nine months since the state had its first documented COVID-19 case, 27 county health officials have left their jobs. Some retired, but others resigned or were fired, the Kansas News Service reported.

That number includes 15 county health department administrators and 18 health officers, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Six of those leaving held both positions.

Nick Baldetti, who resigned as director of the Reno County Health Department in July, said he likely would have stayed to see the department through the pandemic if not for the 80-hour work weeks, the hostile political environment and the threats to his family.

“I had the local police watching my house because my family was home and I was not,” said Baldetti, who was also the department’s health officer. “There was a period of time that I had escorts to and from work.”

Lee Norman, who oversees the public health system as secretary of state health department, was recently assigned a security detail. He called the departure of so many frontline workers “disheartening and cause for concern.”