Woo-ten in happier days. “Goodness, what a rush it was to slap down some anti-vaxx, anti-mask, anti-science whack-job with the power of the regulatory state. We got people fired. We shut down their businesses and locked them in their homes. We kept surfers from surfing, and believers from going to church, all in the name of public health! The power of it! The sheer, unadulterated power!”

“The time has come,” says retiring San Diego County Public Health Officer and the Union-Tribune’s 2020 San Diegan of the Year Wilma Wooten. “I did what I think history will regard great as work guiding America’s Finest City through the pandemic and the aftermath. I implemented guidelines. I silenced dissent. I followed The Science. I battled misinformation. Under my watch, racism was declared a public health crisis. Racism! For a time, it seemed there was nothing I could not do, no area of public — and sometimes private — life into which I could not reach in the name of health. And why not? When things are healthy, they function well. Who wouldn’t want that? But now, things have changed. Now, the health crisis facing San Diego is about bodily health, thanks to all the pollution near our beaches coming up from Mexico. If anything, dealing with it properly has me running the risk of being called racist myself, which is simply unacceptable. And even my awesome powers are unable to compel action on the part of Tijuana municipal authorities. I must diminish; another must rise in my place. But do not forget the times we had, the sweeping policies and grand pronouncements that made me Person of the Year. Fare well, wherever you fare, and don’t forget to mask up!”