Thanks, Dr. Rex Archer. Kansas City would be lucky to find another leader like you
When the coronavirus pandemic hit here in March 2020, Kansas City was lucky to have Dr. Rex Archer directing our city’s public health response.
He’d already been planning to step away from his job as the city’s top public health official to teach, write a book and spend more time with his family.
He’s finally going to do that now, at 67. On Tuesday, he announced that he will retire at the end of July.
But before he goes, let us say thank you for not leaving us in a time of need. Others might not have changed their plans to stay in a tough and mostly thankless position after having already given more than 20 years to the job.
“While Dr. Archer has led Kansas City through many difficult moments, none compared to the challenges our community has faced in the wake of COVID-19,” Mayor Quinton Lucas told The Star Editorial Board. “I have appreciated Dr. Archer’s steady counsel as we’ve worked to keep our city — and this entire region — safe.”
COVID-19 claimed the lives of nearly 2,400 people in the region. But from the onset, Archer was outspoken about the crucial need for the public to follow health guidelines.
While national, state and some local leaders balked at mask mandates, Archer took action even before the city saw its first documented case of the virus.
He pushed for the early stay-at-home orders in Kansas City that Lucas signed off on. And yes, that fast action surely saved many lives.
He said this week that Kansas City had been aggressive in stemming the coronavirus infections in long-term care facilities and put mask mandates in place much earlier than some other cities. Some parts of the state never did so.
Archer regularly criticized the country’s lack of investment in public health over the years. “I’ve often said that it wasn’t primarily the virus that took this country down with this pandemic. It was all of our inequities and injustices in ignoring the 2003 and 2004 SARS outbreak,” he told The Star this week. He also said the federal government mishandled and politicized the coronavirus response.
His willingness to talk frankly about what was going well and what wasn’t earned him respect from institutions and individuals looking for guidance.
He also took a lot of abuse from those who insisted falsely that the pandemic just wasn’t that big a deal. He didn’t back down, or leave his post. Last August, a report by the Associated Press and Kaiser Health News began this way: “Vilified, threatened with violence or in some cases suffering from burnout, dozens of state and local public health officials around the U.S. have resigned or have been fired amid the coronavirus outbreak, a testament to how politically combustible masks, lockdowns and infection data have become.”
Our school officials — K-12 and higher education — paid close attention to Archer’s directions and closed down schools, pivoting to online learning models to keep students, faculty and families safe.
Then, despite complaints from some parents to return all students and teachers to the classroom in the fall, school officials kept following Archer’s counsel. Instead, they opted for a delayed start and slow phase-in, beginning with the youngest children, based on national health guidance on what age groups were most at risk of virus infection.
Sara Williams, Kansas City Public Schools COVID-19 Response Coordinator, said the district was grateful to have had direction from Archer over this last year: “KCPS has worked closely with the health department and has appreciated Dr. Archer as a vital resource. He has always had the health and safety of our students at the top of his list.”
As vaccines became available, Archer stepped up to speak in favor of getting fairer access to and distribution of shots. He spoke up for Kansas City when unused doses were going to waste in oversupplied rural areas.
We appreciate all that and more, Dr. Archer. And only hope that your successor shares both your dedication and willingness to tell people what they don’t want to hear.