BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s top health officer has resigned and the job is being split into two positions, Gov. Doug Burgum announced Wednesday.

Mylynn Tufte, who was appointed by Burgum in 2017, resigned Wednesday, citing a desire to return to the private sector in her resignation letter, the governor said.

The state health officer oversees the Department of Health and implements state laws governing the department. The state health officer also is a statutory member of a number of boards and commissions.

Tufte has served as a point person during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Burgum said the state health officer has become an “impossible task” for one person. He said Tufte, who is married to Supreme Court Justice Jerod Tufte, was not forced out.

Burgum appointed Dr. Andrew Stahl to serve as interim state health officer overseeing the North Dakota Department of Health. Stahl, a Bismarck native, has served as an officer in the North Dakota Army National Guard’s Medical Corps since 2009, and as a member of the military’s COVID-19 Task Force since March.

He previously worked as an internal medicine physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Burgum also appointed University of North Dakota Interim President Joshua Wynne to be the state’s chief health strategist. The new position, according to a press release, will work with the health department to “create a vision and strategy for developing a world-class public health enterprise in partnership with the North Dakota University System, local public health entities, the private sector and local, state, federal and tribal governments.”

Wynne was appointed interim president of UND last year. He earned his medical degree from Boston University.

The appointments come as health officials announced two more people have died from COVID-19 in North Dakota, bringing the total number of deaths to 56.

The female victims from Cass County were in their 70s and 90s and had underlying health conditions.

The Department of Health said another 17 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since Tuesday, bring the total number of cases to 2,439.

Cass County, which remains the epicenter of the state’s coronavirus outbreak, had 16 additional cases. Health officials say 64,901 people so far have tested negative for the virus.

Forty people are currently hospitalized with the virus, the same number reported Tuesday.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.