Regional health department considered

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Commissioners in Washington County are frustrated with how the Pennsylvania Department of Health has provided information and guidance about the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year.

So they’re doing something about it.

On Tuesday, the county’s commissioners spearheaded a virtual meeting with other local counties to discuss forming a regional health department.

The initial meeting included commissioners from Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Butler and Beaver counties.

“The point of this call was for us and other regional county commissioners to express our frustration with the state health department,” Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman said. “We’re looking at developing the state’s first regional health department.”

According to Sherman, the idea for a regional department began after the state’s health department began ignoring Washington County’s requests to provide information on COVID-19 and other issues.

Sherman said state officials told commissioners that since Washington County doesn’t have its own health department, unlike Allegheny County, the state’s department of health is not obligated to provide information and guidance.

“My office was inundated with calls from people because there was little to no information on the state website about Washington County,” Sherman said. “People began expressing their frustrations. People were seeing information for Allegheny County on the news, but not for Westmoreland, Washington or Fayette counties.”

Sherman said a county health department can do more than just provide information and guidance about pandemics.

“There’s other issues like restaurant cleanliness and air quality,” he said. “There’s many reasons you have a health department.”

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