When it came to handling a
pandemic, Marin public health officials had little experience.
Marin’s experience with
the deadly Spanish flu of the early 1900s was tucked deep in the history books
and hardly a primer for the much larger population and complex society of
today.
The rise of the
coronavirus caused many tragedies, but that price could have been much greater
had Marin public health officials not taken effective preventive measures
early. We did not endure the overcrowded hospitals and overwhelmed morgues
recounted by too many communities across our nation.
Still, at least 250 Marin
residents have died from problems linked to contracting the COVID-19 virus.
Nearly 90% of those deaths were 65 and older and most of those deaths were
among those living in long-term care facilities.
The county’s effective
push to get residents vaccinated, including follow-up boosters, significantly
slowed the rate of local hospitalizations and infections. Marin’s extraordinary
high vaccination rate is a result of strong public trust and successful
outreach across our community.
There is reason to praise
those who guided and helped enact our local response.
There is also good reason
to take a hard look at how that leadership performed – its challenges and
responses – and where there is room for improvement.
The 2021-22 Marin County
Grand Jury came to that conclusion in its recent report.
“A published countywide,
multi-agency review could serve to guide Marin’s current and future leaders’
responses to the ongoing effects of COVID-19, as well as the next emergency,”
the grand jury concluded.
Just as important, it
called Marin’s response “an example of strong and capable public health
leadership.”
Those who played roles in
providing that leadership and public service – on many levels – deserve praise
and our gratitude.
For them, they were trying
to do what was right to save lives and help keep people healthy.
There was no up-to-date
template to guide them. They were guides in uncharted waters.
We all learned as we
progressed, through the spikes and valleys of infection rates, lockdowns,
school closures, mask requirements, business closures – permanently for many –
and loss of jobs and losing loved ones and friends.
We learned a lot. We need
to build that data base for the future, as well as regroup and evaluate what we
could have done better. What lessons we have learned about measures that were
taken and those that could be improved upon.
We were reminded about the
importance of communication. The county was forthright in letting the public
know specific up-to-date details concerning the risks. Those statistics – even
their rollercoaster-like patterns – were persuasive and critical public-health
tools.
At the same time, public
health decisions were being made without clarity and any room for public input.
That was frustrating for local businesses eager to reopen their doors.
There were also times the
public was getting mixed messages from federal, state and local officials.
But the right steps
outnumbered the wrong ones, those that either fell short or led us in the wrong
direction.
It is encouraging that Dr.
Matthew Willis, the county’s chief medical officer who has steadfastly led the local public-health efforts, agrees
that such an evaluation would be worthwhile.
In moving toward that
effort, it should be the product of the varied stakeholders in this crisis. A
consultant may be needed to organize, write and produce that document, but it
should be authored by a broad-based team of local stakeholders, both those who
led on various fronts and those who had to deal with the day-to-day challenges
and long-term ramifications of the crisis.
We’re not yet beyond the
threat of COVID-19, but we are at a point when we can take time to assess how
we’ve responded to this, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime prolonged crisis.
Marin IJ Editorial Board
June 11, 2022
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