Maine’s CDC director tapped as No. 2 in command at U.S. CDC, ‘rick-rolls’ constituents with signature humor in YouTube farewell

AUGUSTA, Maine – Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is taking a national position, as second in command to U.S. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday that Shaw will become principal deputy director of the U.S. DCD, beginning in March.

Shah, only eight months into the job as head of the state’s CDC, won the hearts of Mainers with his empathy, patience and deadpan humor during daily televised briefings at the height of the pandemic.

Mills credited Shah as a major factor in Maine’s “nation-leading success in confronting the pandemic.” In a news release Thursday afternoon announcing his departure, she said, “There is no doubt in my mind that he saved the lives of many Maine people.”

Maine, before vaccines became available, had one of the lowest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S., and consistently had one of the lowest death rates from COVID-19, despite having the nation’s oldest average population. Since vaccines became available, Maine has had one of the highest vaccination rates, with currently about 76 percent of the state vaccinated.

Shah will replace Debra Houry at the U.S. CDC. The announcement comes a day after the federal government extended COVID’s status as a public health emergency. The federal agency last summer announced plans to revamp to prioritize its public health response.

Mills described Shah as a trusted advisor and extraordinary leader, both to herself and the people of Maine.

“Day after day, week after week, Dr. Shah spoke calmly and directly to the people of Maine, many of whom were scared and uncertain,” Mills said. “He delivered to us the unvarnished truth, as best we knew it, and answered our questions with compassion, empathy, humor, and a clarity that gave us much-needed hope in our darkest of days.”

A Reluctant Cult Hero

Shah wasn’t a year into his role as director of the Maine CDC when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, throwing him into the limelight as leader of the state’s public health response.

Through the early months of the pandemic, he hosted daily news briefings with humor, empathy,  patience and aura of calm that was almost superhuman at times, a can of Diet Coke always close at hand. The widely watched televised briefings made him a reluctant cult hero. The Fans of Dr. Nirav Shah Facebook page quickly grew to 38,800 followers, and he was the inspiration for a candy bar, several craft beers and restaurant sandwiches, and countless T-shirts and memes. A six-tweet Twitter thread about his dog, Quincy, being put down in December got more than 8,300 views.

He came to Maine in June 2019 from the Illinois Department of Health with the charge from Mills, who’d been elected in 2018, to bring the Maine CDC up to speed after deep cuts made to the agency and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, during the eight years of the Paul LePage administration. The rebuilding was still underway when the pandemic hit in March 2020.

“When Director Shah first came to Maine, rebuilding the state’s public health agency appeared to be the biggest challenge he’d face,” DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said Thursday. “Today, we look back with awe and appreciation at his ability to strengthen the Maine CDC while tackling the immense public health threat of COVID-19. His deep knowledge, commitment, and skillful communication with the people of Maine undoubtedly saved lives. We wish him the best as he transitions into his new position.”

Mills said, “While I am saddened that we are losing Dr. Shah at the Maine CDC, I will be forever grateful for his work to protect and improve the health of Maine people. I take comfort, as Maine people should, in knowing that the U.S. CDC – and the American people at large – will soon become the beneficiaries of his leadership. Dr. Shah, on behalf of the people of Maine, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Never Gonna Give You Up

“While I’m sad to leave the Maine CDC, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Shah said in a YouTube video Thursday. “This new role presents the exciting possibility to extend the great work we’ve done here in Maine to the rest of the country.”

Shah thanked Mills and Lambrew for giving him the opportunity to serve the state. He said, “Thanks to their leadership, Maine CDC has been rebuilt and restored, and because of the top-notch professionals at this agency, the Maine CDC is in a strong place, and will continue the great work that it has become known for.”

He said that the decision to leave wasn’t an easy one. When he and his family arrived in 2019, “Maine welcomed us with open arms. Maine is our home.”

In his trademark deadpan delivery, he used lyrics from the 1987 Rick Astley song, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” to explain his feelings (reprising his 2020 “rickroll” contact tracer update). “I feel like I’m giving you up, letting you down, running around and deserting you, making you cry, and saying goodbye,” he said. “All of which are things I told my friend Rick I was never gonna do. But, when called up, you go.”

Shah said his heart will remain in Maine, and implied he would still make it his home, calling it a “special place.”

“You allowed me to be, well, me. And I won’t forget that,” he said. “I’ll still be working for all of you, I’m just adding 330 million people into the mix.”

He ended the video with the signature sign-off from his daily briefings, “Please be kind and take care of one another.”

Maine CDC Deputy Director Nancy Beardsley was named interim director while the Maine Department of Health and Human Services conducts a national search for Shah’s replacement.