Friday March 27th, you were reporting that the positive
cases within Allegany County were at 2 and had been since the original “outbreak”
approximately two weeks ago. Early on March 28th you reported an additional two
positive cases within the county bringing the total to 4. The residents then
asked time and time again a simple question of what township these cases are
in. Not an unreasonable request as it violates nothing. Counties surrounding
ours have no problem releasing what town a person that tests positive resides
in and places they have recently visited. Later in that same day we were told
that there are 2 other additional cases in the county bringing the total to 6
by the end of the day. In the most recent social media post by Allegany County
Department of Health (ACDOH) you stated “At this point in time, it does not
matter what Township the cases are in, where they may or may not have shopped
at, what places in the community they may or may not have visited.” This
information is very valuable to everyone that can receive it. The only thing
the press releases coming from Allegany County are doing is creating undo chaos
and a now rapidly decreasing trust in your abilities to perform your jobs from
the citizens you are supposed to be protecting. The release of basic
information of a town and possible places they have visited is all that is
being asked. By now everyone is quite aware of HIPPA laws and the nature of the
privacy laws to protect people. We all get it that part. You have also stated
that we should just assume that we are infected if we become ill. Are you
serious? So, we should request a COVID-19 test, in which there is a shortage
of, by a trained professional wearing complete PPE, which there is a severe
shortage of everywhere, for something that could just be allergies because we
all need to assume, we have it already? What a complete waste of resources and
taxpayers’ dollars that is. You are also withholding very important information
from the EMS agencies that are trying to respond to calls and combat this
situation, they should be notified of the addresses of positive cases and
quarantined individuals within their responding area. Or should those ambulance
crews also assume that everyone is infected and use up resources they aren’t
able to replenish? I’m sure you will respond with this being a violation of
patient information, but you are also putting the first responders in these
agencies at great risk by not supplying this information.
Chairman Crandall I am sure you stood with your hand on the
bible swearing to protect the citizens of this county upon the appointment of
your position. You and your County Department of Health are failing us
miserably. You are not providing relevant information to us the citizens. The
press releases coming from the County appear to be nothing more than a copy,
paste and change the date. The arrogance that the ACDOH has responded to individuals
on the social media site Facebook is completely uncalled for by what is
supposed to be a professional agency. In my opinion your responses are
insinuating that everyone is ignorant and can’t handle the truth of the
situation or just wouldn’t understand. It appears that someone is on a power
trip and wants to withhold information, a form of psychological warfare by
withholding information from the people. Truth is...we all do understand, we
understand the seriousness of the situation, we understand the need to follow
the guidelines that have been coming from the CDC for weeks. What we don’t
understand is the secrecy coming from our apparent County leaders. What we
don’t understand is why create more chaos on an already stressed population.
Maybe it is time for change on the next election. Maybe it is time for change
now.
Allegany County resident
Bill Day Jr.
