What I learned on the Atlanta public health beat

Hi, Atlanta!

It has been a joy and a privilege to serve as the Atlanta reporter for Healthbeat. As you may know from an earlier note to readers from Civic News Company CEO Elizabeth Green, the bureau is closing and I will be moving on. This is my last Healthbeat newsletter. 

As I reflect on my time on the beat, I’m filled with respect for the people who make our public health system tick, everyone from the deep-in-the-weeds data gurus to the community advocates who connect people to services and information, and all those in between.

Working through many challenges, you have shared your stories with me, explained complicated science, answered detailed questions, and kept me posted about what’s happening in our community. 

Please accept my heartfelt thank you.    

I have learned so much from all of you, and I hope our coverage has educated you, too, and helped spread the word about your important work. A few insights gleaned from my time on the beat: 

• Public health is undergoing a paradigm shift. Many have told me that “no news is good news” when it comes to public health. When things are going well, public health is not in the news. But now that is changing: Covid and the political turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during President Donald Trump’s second term have pushed public health workers to rethink how they relate to, well, the public. Many have told me they want to find new ways to communicate about public health — like the recent performance of “Mama Stories," a play about maternal deaths. Others are carving out a presence on social media, where misinformation is rife. The new mantra might be “more news is good news.” 

• Atlanta has enormous public health resources — but they are fragmented. Public health has a long and deep history in Atlanta, and that’s fueled a rich ecosystem of experts, institutions, advocates, and community groups, from the CDC to the Mosaic Clinic. At the same time, the city’s many jurisdictions make unified action tough. What happens in Cobb County might be very different from what happens in Clayton, and there isn’t one central meeting point for all these groups. Greater coordination could likely improve efficiency — but how to get there is unclear. 

• Public health is deeply political and personal. So much of what public health workers do is guided by data and science: statistical analyses, peer-reviewed journal articles, and lengthy reports. But that neutrality sits, often uneasily, alongside the political and personal nature of public health. The day-to-day work of keeping the public healthy relies on communications and connections that aren’t easily quantified. And though the recent turmoil feels to many especially egregious, the field has always been political and required tough choices about how to use limited resources. In other words, the politicization of public health since Covid may seem new, and especially vitriolic, but it has a longer history. Keeping that in mind might help us feel less alone in the current moment — and find creative solutions. 

As for me, I’m staying in town and I’ll continue to independently cover two of the things I care about most: Georgia and health. You can sign up for my new weekly newsletter, Inside Georgia Health, here. 

Healthbeat will carry on its national and New York coverage. To help you keep up with the public health news, we’ve added you to our free national newsletter list — you can unsubscribe at any time.