SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Montgomery County, Maryland public health doctor who endured racist threats while earning the devotion of county leadership said the harassment he suffered played no role in his decision to resign.
Montgomery County Chief Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles turned in his surprise resignation on Aug. 18 and his last day in the role will be Sept. 12.
“Quite frankly, it was disgusting," Gayles said looking back on the email messages he received. "Some of the rhetoric and the tone and the things that people said diminished the value of what we're trying to do.”
For the first time, Gayles made public an example of the messages by providing WUSA9 with a copy of an email he received on Aug. 3, 2020.
The attacker called him a “stupid primate," but the rest of the email is so profane, homophobic and racist, WUSA9 has redacted much of it.
Gayles said the email was one of dozens he received at the time.
Police investigated, but ultimately no charges were filed.
“I have a fairly thick skin and you can throw that at me," Gayles said. "But what was most disturbing to me is ... [it] was completely disrespectful to the significant effort of all of the people who have been working tirelessly from the very beginning of this to keep our residents safe. I think the larger issue is, it speaks to what I strongly feel is the unnecessary politicization of the response, where we went from a situation where everyone was collectively together, to keep everyone safe."
Gayles said that once things started to reopen and county residents differed on what ongoing safety protocols should be, he felt politics entered the conversation, complicating his ability to do his job.
"Unfortunately it continues to play out now as we've seen how COVID is disproportionately impacting certain parts of the country where some of those political battles have been much more significant," Gayles said.
The doctor said he is leaving after being recruited to become the chief health officer for a San Francisco-based start-up that provides telehealth services to K-12 schools.
He leaves behind a county with one of the highest vaccination rates in the country for a jurisdiction its size, according to the CDC; 73% of the total population is vaccinated while 95% of seniors in the county are vaccinated, according to state figures.
Gayles said the vaccination rate is paying dividends even as the Delta variant becomes primary.
“Even though we do see an increased level of cases right now," Gayles said. "Those cases are not translating into significant hospitalizations or significant fatalities because of that groundwork that we put into place, and we have so many of our residents vaccinated."