By Maggie Cassidy
Valley News Editor

Dartmouth-Hitchcock recently launched regular video briefings about the new coronavirus and its arrival in the Upper Valley, and when D-H President and CEO Joanne Conroy joined Chief Clinical Officer Ed Merrens for a Facebook Live event on March 5, Conroy, in response to a question from the public, said her role was to “communicate, communicate, communicate.”

This assertion struck me as remarkable, given how unforthcoming the institution has been right from the start in providing even basic information about its role in this situation. Perhaps this reticence stems from the fact that the first three confirmed cases of the new virus in the Upper Valley have links to D-H: the first two patients are employees, and the third patient had contact with the second at church services before the latter manifested symptoms. But the fact remains that the public interest demands more candor than D-H has mustered so far.

Don’t take my word for it, though; judge for yourself.