Pandemic backlash jeopardizes public health powers, leaders

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, a pediatrician and former health commissioner for New York City during the coronavirus outbreak, poses for a portrait in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Dec. 7. Barbot left her job as commissioner in August amid a clash with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. During the height of the pandemic, the mayor empowered the city’s hospital system to lead the fight against COVID-19, passing over her highly regarded department.