Considering the extraordinary times in which it transpired, the firing of Waco-McLennan County Public Health Director Brenda Gray by city of Waco officials followed a familiar pattern: The city that terminated her on July 20 did so without a peep to the public from whom it so desperately seeks faith and buy-in regarding public health measures to combat an ongoing pandemic. Upon our reporting of her termination a couple of days later, some of the public voiced confusion and even sympathy for Gray; some ironically faulted the Trib for not reporting why she was fired. Finally, in the absence of any satisfying explanation from city officials, the rumors began to fester.
This is no way to run a pandemic.
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Through a three-page July 19 discharge recommendation memo secured through the Texas Public Information Act, Tribune-Herald staff writer Kristin Hoppa at last uncovered City Hall reservations about Gray, including claims that she failed to communicate with her bosses, failed to work with local hospitals and failed to provide a plan for realigning functions in light of COVID-19. Complaints alleged she was not prepared for meetings and did not have appropriate information to keep the public informed on the coronavirus locally. The memo states that an unnamed elected official even requested Gray be removed from an assigned work group on June 28. Hoppa also contacted Gray, who dismissed the allegations as “100% false.”
No wonder city officials ducked what we initially presumed to be an unrelated inquiry into whether they even had faith in some of the data they produced, given reported changes in methodologies. Now one is left to ponder other questions: For instance, how bad must matters get before you’re better off without anyone at the helm of the public health district during a pandemic? It’s a question worth pondering given that city officials say months may pass before a new public health director is hired.
Lately we’ve had trouble even learning how bad the pandemic has impacted individual nursing homes in McLennan County. Thus the city of Waco has now joined state and federal sources in generating the sort of confusion and frustration that makes it difficult for earnest citizens to act prudently and responsibly.
One tenet of effective crisis management holds that the best way to combat rampant misinformation is by consistently generating legitimate information — and in this case that pivots on the public health district. That’s where most data is to be collected and produced. Only then can this community accurately gauge our level of progress, if any, and how each of us must proceed individually to safeguard ourselves, our families and our co-workers and neighbors.
All of these problems surface just when transparency may matter most: accurately gauging a volatile situation as children return to schools mid-pandemic. As city and public health officials brace to report moment-by-moment developments on local campuses, they must take care that they don’t succumb to the very failings of which they accuse Brenda Gray.