Health commissioner expresses cautions regarding public gatherings

Geauga Public Health Commissioner Tom Quade is withholding support for public gatherings.

Geauga Public Health reports it continues to receive dozens of requests daily for guidance or approval of planned events, but Quade reminds all those who are seeking input that just because something is now allowed does not mean it is yet wise to do.

“None of us want to live in a society where the government tells us what we cannot do,” Quade said in a news release. “As citizens who all share a place in society, we must then have enough common sense not to do as we please at the expense of someone else’s health and safety. We have to mix in some superego with our id.”

Quade is continuing to work with community partners, but he cautions that his guidance in the planning process should not be confused with support for engaging in the activity.

“Sometimes that duality makes it feel like I’m walking a tight rope,” he stated. “Other times it feels more like I’m sitting on one. Neither are pleasant sensations.”

Geauga County has been successful in keeping its novel coronavirus case numbers and hospitalization numbers relatively low but uncounted undiagnosed infected person can spread the disease to others, and Quade noted that at some point some of the asymptomatic cases will cause a severe negative health outcome for someone else down. “Someone who chooses to attend a public gathering like a protest, political rally, concert, fair, or parade may not experience a personal negative health consequence,” he stated. “However, the risk associated with their choice to attend will certainly extend to members of the public who did not choose to attend.

That risk extends through the incubation period of the infection unless the attendees voluntarily opt to selfquarantine for two weeks following the event and no one expects that to occur.” Geauga Public Health will continue to work diligently with planners of events to mitigate the risks they present to the public, the release stated.

“If an event or activity is not prohibited by the state, it is unlikely we would take action to try to prohibit it locally,” Quade said. “Our willingness to work with planners to mitigate risk and our disinclination to prohibit an activity should not be construed or represented as an endorsement of a public gathering.

Quade