Shortly after COVID-19 hit Ohio, part of my work routine was to cover then-daily news conferences of Gov. Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton on the number of cases and related deaths.

It’s been difficult at times as the pandemic has killed thousands of people and greatly impacted daily routines of everyone I know. This is historic, and despite our short attention spans, I hope it won’t be forgotten.

The news conferences are now about two days a week with Acton serving as a calming presence — someone who shows compassion and helps us better understand what’s happening. She didn’t sign up to be one of the two faces of the state, along with DeWine, when the governor hired her in April 2019 as director of the Ohio Department of Health. But no one predicted a pandemic then.

She is an inspiration to many and a source of pride for the Mahoning Valley. This area has been kicked around for decades, so pardon us if we smiled when the Valley native’s name came up in conversations.

Acton, who spent time homeless as a child, was raised on Youngstown’s North Side, graduated in 1984 from Liberty High School and attended Youngstown State University.

Acton was widely popular throughout the state with a poll in April showing 64 percent of registered voters had a favorable opinion of her. She has a Facebook fan club with more than 132,000 members and has more than 55,000 followers on Twitter despite never tweeting.

In the pandemic’s early days, Acton estimated about 100,000 Ohioans could already be infected with COVID-19 and the number of cases could grow by up to 10,000 per day. Acton also warned that due to lack of testing, the state’s numbers were well below the actual amount of cases.

She likely greatly overestimated; still steps taken by her and DeWine saved lives.

With DeWine’s blessing or at his direction — or both — Acton signed a number of directives that essentially put a halt to the state’s economy.

The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Ohio are much lower than other states with similar populations.

Undoubtedly, Ohio did a horrible job postponing the March 17 primary the night before it was to happen. After failing to get a judge to approve the plan, DeWine had Acton sign an order only hours before polling locations were to open that didn’t allow the election to take place that day. It was the right move to postpone the primary, but it should have been done days earlier.

After a while, pushback at Acton over the state’s businesses remaining largely closed grew louder. Most vocal were conservative Republicans angry at DeWine, a fellow Republican, and moreso at Acton, who isn’t a politician.

There was a vote in the Ohio House to restrict Acton’s authority. There were protests outside her home with reports that some people were carrying weapons. There were anti-Semitic remarks and signs about Acton. Members of the Republican Party’s conservative wing wanted Acton gone. Some expressed hostility toward her and contended she was part of a plan to destroy the state’s economy.

It got ugly and abusive.

And it was easy to see it was getting to Acton. Between the COVID-19 deaths, long hours, publicity and backlash, she appeared exhausted. When news conferences were scaled back to twice a week, it wasn’t unusual for her to speak briefly or attend only one.

Despite warning signs, her resignation came as a shock last week.

Ironically, it was one of only a handful of COVID-19 news conferences I missed as I was covering a Youngstown City Council committee meeting at the same time. Word traveled fast, and I received texts and calls from people wanting to know what happened. My Twitter feed was filled with Acton resignation posts.

Acton wasn’t pushed out, but pressure and stress just became too much. She’ll stay on as DeWine’s chief health adviser with the same $236,000 annual salary.

She said last week that her routine wasn’t “sustainable,” and she’s not the only health official in the country to resign because of decisions made to reduce the pandemic’s impact.

Neil Young’s lyric about it being “better to burn out than to fade away” runs through my mind. Let’s hope Acton doesn’t fade away. The state still needs her.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com