Sonia Angell: California public health boss abruptly steps down after coronavirus reporting glitch

Sonia Angell resigned apparently without warning via a letter to her department staff

Dr Sonia Angell briefs the press in the early stages of California's coronavirus outbreak (EPA-EFE)

California‘s public health director and state health officer, Sonia Angell, has unexpectedly stepped down after the discovery of a glitch in the state’s data system which meant new cases of coronavirus were being under-reported.

The glitch affected the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange (CalREDIE) and caused a backlog of some 300,000 records, many of which will include positive coronavirus test results.

In a statement released after her resignation, governor Gavin Newsom praised her efforts during the pandemic. “I want to thank Dr. Angell for her service to the state,” he said, “and her work to help steer our public health system during this global pandemic, while never losing sight of the importance of health equity.”

In her letter, Ms Angell did not give a specific reason for her departure. Instead, she mostly praised the efforts of the state’s public health staff and workers, emphasising that none of them had been personally unaffected by the virus’s impact.

“You have all stepped up to the calling,” she wrote. ”Some have done so by shifting your entire portfolio to emergency efforts, others of you have kept our State’s core public health work moving forward. Each and every one of you has been essential, because we know that in the final calculation, health is not defined by one condition, disease or experience. In the final calculation, all of our work, in aggregate, makes the difference.

“I remain consistently impressed and humbled by the expertise, commitment, passion and kindness demonstrated by all of you daily.”

California was the second state to record a case of coronavirus, and it has since been established that the virus killed two residents who died at their homes in February, even before the US’s first officially confirmed deaths were confirmed in the Seattle area.

The state is one of several that has experienced a spike in cases in recent weeks after partially reopening its economy.

However, the number of new cases has since declined notably. While the glitch recently revealed needs to be taken into account, the daily case number is now hovering between 5,000 and 8,000 – down from the daily record of 12,162 that was set on 22 July.

Having held two posts at the same time since October 2019, Ms Angell will for now be replaced as California public health director by Sandra Shewry and as state public health director by Erica Pan.