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Health board, do your duty

Dear Spokane Board of Health,

In response to the shocking news yesterday about the removal of Dr. Bob Lutz as our Spokane Regional Health Officer, the public deserves to know the justification for which Dr. Lutz was removed, as well as transparency into the decision. You board members are all elected officials and work for the public. We have a right to know what is going on and the reasoning behind decisions made on our behalf.

Dr. Lutz has been a leader in keeping the Spokane region as safe as possible through this pandemic. His guidance has been very sound, and the restrictions we have in our day-to-day operations have spared our region more devastation from this virus. One only needs to look at neighboring states and other areas of our country where leadership is much less restrictive to see the impact on people’s health and why Dr. Lutz’s leadership should be supported.

It is unbelievable at a time when our region and country are under extreme threat of a second wave of COVID-19 that such a decision would be made under extremely secretive circumstances and without transparency. If there is no warranted reason as to Dr. Lutz’s removal, reinstate him immediately. We cannot afford to have no health leadership for even a moment right now.

The Spokane regional community deserves transparency with decisions made on our behalf by elected officials, especially of this magnitude. Spokane Board of Health members, uphold your civic responsibility.

Debbie McFarland

Spokane



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