Pennsylvania Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam To Resign

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Pennsylvania's top health leader is stepping down.

Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam will resign at the end of the year, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday. After she leaves, Executive Deputy Secretary Keara Klinepete will assume her position.

Beam was the state's acting health secretary for less than a year, taking over after Dr. Rachel Levine left for the Biden administration.

Her departure comes amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The state is reporting an average of more than 7,500 infections per day, up over 20% in two weeks. Hospitalizations have risen 55% since mid-November to an average of more than 4,000 per day. Geisinger, one of Pennsylvania's largest health systems, said it's running at 110%.

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed Beam's school mask requirement, ruling she lacked the authority to issue the mandate.

Before leading the Department of Health, Beam was deputy chief of staff to the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner.

The Wolf administration didn't give a reason for her resignation.

"I am proud to have worked with Acting Secretary Beam over the past several years, and the commonwealth has been fortunate to have had the benefit of her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic – especially as the Department of Health oversaw a massive vaccine roll-out over the course of the past year," said Gov. Wolf said in a press release.

Beam called the position the "most humbling honor" of her career.