NYC Health Commissioner Quits, Scorches De Blasio

ABC News reports:

Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned as New York City’s health commissioner, saying in her resignation letter that “the Health Department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been.” “I leave my post today with deep disappointment,” her resignation letter said.

“Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”

Barbot’s resignation comes after de Blasio stripped control of the city’s COVID-19 contact tracing program from the health department, which has historically handled tracing. The mayor instead placed the program under Health and Hospitals, the agency that runs the city’s public hospitals.