<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1596129008049.jpeg" alt="Lee Norman says he views the threats against public health officers like him as theoretical, "but there's a lot of anger out there." (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Lee Norman says he views the threats against public health officers like him as theoretical, "but there's a lot of anger out there." (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By SHERMAN SMITH <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/07/30/a-lot-of-anger-kansas-authorities-on-alert-for-threats-to-health-officers/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Kansas Department
 of Health and Environment secretary Lee Norman says he is used to 
“looking over my shoulder,” behavior the lieutenant colonel in the 
Kansas Army National Guard learned while serving as senior medical 
commander in a combat zone.Norman again finds himself under threat of attack.Public health officials 
across the the country are being threatened by the residents they are 
trying to protect while managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kansas 
Adjutant General’s office, which oversees emergency preparedness for the
 state, informed Norman’s staff this week that general threats were 
being made.Law enforcement in Kansas 
are monitoring potential and perceived threats, said Ashley 
Jones-Wisner, senior director for public affairs at KDHE. Norman said at
 least one county health officer in Kansas has enlisted 24-hour 
protection.Norman said there haven’t been any direct threats against his life, “but there’s a lot of anger out there.”“There are a lot of people
 that are getting punchy,” Norman said. “I think it’s out there kind of 
in the level of the theoretical. I try to always be situational.”Gov. Laura Kelly has 
issued a litany of executive orders, based on advice from Norman, to 
mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Kansas. The response to those orders —
 including recent efforts to require residents to wear masks in public 
and delay the start of public schools — has grown increasingly hostile 
and politically charged.“We have to take any and 
all threats seriously,” Kelly said. “My administration, our agencies and
 law enforcement will continue to be in coordination to ensure the 
safety of state and local employees. It’s more important than ever that 
elected officials stick to using public health data and science, and 
keep politics out of the conversation around COVID-19.”KDHE for the first time on
 Wednesday enlisted Kansas Highway Patrol officers to attend a news 
briefing delivered by Norman. Reporters now are being asked to RSVP and 
show credentials when they arrive.Norman’s agency reported 
the addition of 698 cases of COVID-19 and 14 new deaths in Kansas over a
 48-hour period this week. He said health officials in Kansas were 
monitoring active clusters connected to bars and restaurants, religious 
gatherings, meat packing plants, group homes, long-term care facilities,
 and private businesses.In total, <a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">KDHE has recorded</a> 26,870 cases, 1,700 hospitalizations and 349 deaths since the first case in Kansas was discovered in early March.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1596129066955.jpeg" alt="Susan Voorhees, a Topeka psychologist, says parents should talk to their children about the anxiety they feel about going back to school. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Susan Voorhees, a Topeka psychologist, says parents should talk to their children about the anxiety they feel about going back to school. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>KDHE enlisted Susan 
Voorhees, a Topeka psychologist, to join Norman at Wednesday’s briefing 
and address the anxiety parents and children are feeling as they <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/07/29/local-control-takes-shape-as-school-districts-across-kansas-plan-for-reopening/">prepare to return to school</a>.That anxiety is fueled by 
uncertainty over when and how in-person instruction will resume, health 
risks, mandated precautions, screen time, seeing friends and job 
security. Voorhees said the best thing parents can do is talk to their 
kids about these worries and let them ask questions.“We know that anxiety is 
like the monster under the bed,” Voorhees said. “It hides in the dark. 
It hides in the areas where we don’t talk about things, where we just 
let our minds go and wander and imagine — lying in bed at night, 
wondering about what’s going to happen tomorrow or what we heard on the 
news.”Norman said he had 
witnessed first-hand the mental stress of the months-long pandemic. 
Managing the state’s response, Norman said, reminded him of his 
deployment in 2017-18 to the Middle East, where he was responsible for 
the health of 12,000 troops.The secretary credited his
 colleagues at the health agency for providing a good support network 
for him and each other over the past five months.“I feel great,” Norman said. “I really do. But it’s not because it’s been easy sledding.”Sherman Smith has written award-winning news stories about the instability of the Kansas foster care system, misconduct by government officials, sexual abuse, technology, education, and the Legislature. He spent 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where he started on the copy desk, then oversaw digital operations, was the managing editor and reported from the Statehouse. A lifelong Kansan, he graduated from Emporia State University in 2004 as a Shepherd Scholar with a degree in English.

‘A lot of anger’: Kan. authorities on alert for threats to health officers