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Washington’s top public health officer to leave position

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 14, 2020

REMOVES REFERENCE TO NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO DIED FROM COVID-19 - State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy speaks to the media about the coronavirus outbreak, as Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler looks on, Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Olympia, Wash. Kriedler has issued an order requiring health insurers in the state to not charge copays or deductibles for people who require testing for the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)
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REMOVES REFERENCE TO NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO DIED FROM COVID-19 - State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy speaks to the media about the coronavirus outbreak, as Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler looks on, Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Olympia, Wash. Kriedler has issued an order requiring health insurers in the state to not charge copays or deductibles for people who require testing for the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)
State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy speaks to the media about the coronavirus outbreak, as Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler looks on, March 5 in Olympia. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte, file)

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Washington’s top public health officer announced Wednesday that she will leave the state’s health department at the end of the year.

Dr. Kathy Lofy, who said it was an honor to help lead the state’s COVID-19 response, said that she planned to focus on her own health and to connect with friends and family.

Lofy said that there wasn’t any one reason she was leaving, just that “it’s the right time for me personally.”

Her departure will come at around the same time Secretary of Health John Wiesman will leave the state. Wiesman said in May that he will resign his role in January 2021 to take a job at the University of North Carolina.

“We anticipate starting recruitment in the next month as we transition, also, secretary leadership,” Wiesman said Wednesday.

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