In The Loop

This week is celebrated as National Newspaper Week, and it’s sobering to look around at this moment in time and see the challenges newspapers face in so many ways. But spotlighting one: Delivering crucial information in the midst of a pandemic that is nowhere near its end.

That’s true at the national level, as major newspapers express fury at the way the White House has handled the president’s health since his positive COVID-19 test last week. Just how sick the president is remains a matter of public importance, and the shell game played in recent days is appalling. (At one point, his doctors said one thing, and his chief of staff — attempting to speak “on background” — directly contradicted them.)

But there’s a local component to this: As we enter a second wave of potential infections in New York State, and in this region, school districts must take a moment to prioritize the way information is shared with the public.

Nobody is calling for health privacy laws, protecting individuals, to be violated. But there is no excuse for varying, or changing, rules when a student or staff member tests positive. Every school district should issue as much information as the law allows, because confidence in public disclosures is what keeps a community feeling safe in a crisis.

Instead of a pat on the back, this newspaper simply asks school officials to honor National Newspaper Week by scrutinizing its policies in this specific way, and keeping the public in the loop with a timely, clear, unfiltered picture of what’s happening.