Dawn Comstock, Jefferson County health director, resigns after private meeting with board

Jefferson County Public Health Director Dawn Comstock offered her resignation Monday afternoon following a lengthy meeting with the county’s health board that was closed to the public.

The Jefferson County Board of Health voted unanimously to accept Comstock’s resignation after about a year on the job. Comstock will be put on paid administrative leave for a time “to finalize the details of her resignation,” board member Kimberley Krapek said.

“Dr. Comstock will not be acting as executive director of Jefferson County Public Health during this time,” Krapek said.

The board also voted to allow its president, Cheri Jahn, to appoint an interim director.

Comstock’s employment was the only matter on the agenda for Monday’s special meeting of the Board of Health. About 200 people tuned in to the virtual meeting, which largely consisted of a closed executive session.

None of the board members commented publicly about what happened in the two-hour executive session or whether they had asked for Comstock’s resignation. No public explanation was offered as to her departure.

Comstock was hired in February 2021. She had previously worked as a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, and was a member of the Jefferson County Board of Health from 2017 to 2020. Earlier in the pandemic, she assisted the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in investigating new COVID-19 cases and contact tracing.

The previous director, Dr. Mark Jefferson, had planned to retire in early 2020, but extended his stay because of the pandemic.

Comstock wasn’t popular with some segments of the public, especially after the Board of Health voted to reinstate a mask mandate near the peak of the fall 2021 surge. The majority of the four-member board generally voted in favor of the anti-COVID measures Comstock had publicly asked for, though, and didn’t express dissatisfaction in their open meetings.

The county’s mask mandate is scheduled to end Feb. 18. Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties lifted their mandates for most settings over the weekend, though Denver will continue to require masks in schools, child care centers and public transportation.

The board also voted last week to repeal a requirement that unvaccinated county employees undergo routine testing. Local governments within Jefferson County could still opt to test their employees regularly, though it’s probably not going to be common, given the cost of purchasing test kits.

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