Following County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles’ turnaround, enabling nonpublic schools to welcome students into physical classrooms at the start of the new year, Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando shot back.
“Any outbreak at a school is on you @GovLarryHogan. So much for leaving decisions to localities and doctors. Shameful,” Jawando tweeted.
You conveniently left this out from our health officer: "I continue to strongly believe that based on the current state of surveillance
and epidemiological data, it is neither safe nor in the interest of public health for any school to
return for in-person learning this fall"— Will Jawando (@willjawando) August 7, 2020
Jawando’s tweet followed one by Gov. Hogan that said he “was pleased to see that Montgomery Co. has rescinded the blanket mandate closing private and parochial schools.”
Councilmember Tom Hucker also entered the fray. Hucker posted on Facebook,
“It is such a shame whenever elected officials put politics over public health. On the same day when the Gov’s office praised Montgomery County for the “incredible job” we are is doing driving down his statewide test positivity results by following professional medical advice, his Secretary (who is not a medical professional) overruled our trained and successful Health Officer without offering any public health rationale whatsoever.”
Pleased to see that Montgomery Co. has rescinded the blanket mandate closing private and parochial schools. As long as their plans follow CDC and state guidelines, they should have the same flexibility as public school systems & be empowered to do what’s best for their community.
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) August 7, 2020
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