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Elkhart County Health Officer Blames Social Media For The Confusion On Back-To-School Recommendation

http://www.elkhartcountyhealth.org/

A case of miscommunication… that’s what Elkhart County’s Health Officer said happened last week with Elkhart County school superintendents. It caused confusion and upheaval in several districts’ back-to school plans. The health officer is blaming social media for playing a big part in the misunderstanding.

Elkhart County Health Officer, Dr. Lydia Mertz, discussed her concern about the upward trend in the COVID-19 testing positivity rate in Elkhart County with school superintendents on a phone call last Thursday.
“I was concerned that we were on the brink of going up right when school was starting," she said. "I was concerned about the timeline.”

This caused some school officials to believe Mertz would be recommending a virtual start to the school  year. But Mertz now said she wasn’t finished collecting all the data to make a decision.

Mertz blames social media for adding to the confusion.

As the county waited for the final recommendation, protestors gathered outside the health department on Friday to urge Mertz to allow in-person classes. Mertz said the protests did not influence her.

When she finally released her recommendation late Friday, her guidance indicated allowing in-person instruction as an option. The announcement came through social media with a Facebook post to the Elkhart County Health Dept. page.

Since then nearly 200 people have commented on that post - many expressing frustration with how she handled the situation and some even calling for Mertz’s resignation.

At least one superintendent in the county sent an email to staff expressing displeasure about the conflicting information.

But Mertz is now claiming she was never planning on officially recommending a virtual start to school until taking a closer look at the County’s COVID-19 data. All of this came as some schools in the county have  their first day of school this week.