LAKE COUNTY— The Board of Supervisors said farewell Tuesday to Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace during his last meeting presenting a COVID-19 update to the board.
The supervisors and staff thanked Pace for his service and described him as a calm and compassionate leader, while acknowledging the difficulty of facing backlash from the public over the past year.
Pace said previously that he would be returning to practicing medicine as the county made it through the worst of the pandemic and decision making became more up to the state than counties themselves. The county is currently looking to recruit someone to fill the public health officer position, and Dr. Evan Bloom, who previously spoke in Pace’s absence while on vacation, is aiding in the transition.
Pace said Tuesday that the county had thousands of vaccine doses in storage — which he called “an ample supply” — and would be moving away from its large mobile vaccination sites in the coming weeks. Over one-third of Lake County residents ages 16 and older are now fully vaccinated. About 47% of residents ages 16 and older are partially or fully-vaccinated.
Pace said vaccines were available for all community members at Adventist Health, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Safeway, North Lake Pharmacy, and the Walmart store in Clearlake. Also, vaccines will become available at the OptumServe sites, where COVID-19 testing has been offered, this week in Lower Lake and next week in Lakeport.
Supervisor Moke Simon thanked Pace for his serious attitude about assisting the most vulnerable people in the county. Supervisor Eddie Crandelll thanked Pace for meeting with all groups, including tribes.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska also praised Pace’s accessibility and “compassion as a leader.”
“This is unprecedented, and it probably is the most significant thing that any of us have been through, and obviously the most significant part of your career,” Pyska said. “I know it wasn’t an easy year; it was difficult by any measure, but thank you for being dedicated and thank you for believing in Lake County.”
Carol Huchingson, the county’s chief administrative officer, also expressed gratitude to Pace.
“It was not only inspiring to work with him, it really was an honor,” Hutchinson said. “I so appreciate his calm, composed, graceful leadership during what has been one heck of a storm.”
Chairman Bruno Sabatier acknowledged criticism that comes with the position as public health officer. Sabatier said he was grateful that Pace stuck it out through the pandemic, while many other counties lost their public health officers during the last year. He said the position became “much more political” than it needed to be.
“You’ve taken the fire from the firing squad, compared to us, because we are somewhat behind you and supporting you, but not necessarily at the forefront of the decision making, which makes people either happy or angry,” Sabatier said. “There is no middle ground to make everyone happy.”
On that note, Pace was not able to make it through his last board meeting without any words of criticism. A member of the public who identified himself as Will Tuttle expressed distrust of doctors and officials including Pace who were encouraging people to get vaccinated. Tuttle said the country was under a “tyrannical regime” that was denying its citizens of their rights to medical freedom.
In response, Sabatier said people weren’t being denied their medical freedoms and that the COVID-19 vaccines were not mandatory.
Another member of the public, Barb Levinson, chimed in, adding that it was “hard to follow” Tuttle.
“I’d like to bring us to the here and now and add my gratitude for Dr. Pace and your staff for everything that you’ve done to support us and care about us,” Levinson said.
The county remains in the state’s orange tier. Sabatier said he would like to push to move into the less restrictive yellow tier before the state plans to drop its tier system and fully open up on June 15. Sabatier added that he wanted the board to discuss soon when to drop the county’s emergency declaration for the pandemic.
