TOLEDO, Ohio — The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department held a press conference Thursday to provide an update on the current state of COVID-19 in the community.
The health department started out the press conference by naming Dr. Daniel Cadigan as new medical director.
The health department says Dr. Cadigan was a board member of the Ottawa County Health Department, as well as a physician in Port Clinton. He said he has also served as coroner in Ottawa County.
The department said they terminated the agreement with current medical director Dr. Smith and said they "needed to go in a different direction," but there was no issue with Dr. Smith.
When asked what he sees coming next for Lucas County in regards to COVID-19, Dr. Cadigan emphasizes the importance of putting differences aside and wearing a mask - even though masks haven't been mandated in Ohio - for the health of the community and to lower coronavirus numbers.
He also said he thinks a statewide mask mandate would be beneficial.
Dr. Cadigan says he realizes that masks weren't deemed as important a couple of months ago, but this information has changed as more knowledge about COVID-19 is learned.
"The early thought was that it didn't make a difference, but now we know it does make a difference," Dr. Cadigan said.
Lucas County Health Commissioner Eric Zgodzinski echoed this, saying it's extremely important to wear a masks and says the health department is working on how to implement Toledo's mask mandate.
The health department also touched on getting area schools ready to go back to in-person instruction in the fall.
Zgodzinski said they are working with area schools to look at their plans for going back to school, but says schools need to be flexible as things could change last-minute. He says it's important for schools to have not only a Plan A, but a Plan B and C as well, and says schools have done a great job planning for the upcoming year.
Zgodzinski also says the department is rolling out Mask Up 419, a campaign to encourage community members to wear a mask.
There is no official announcement on what risk category Lucas County is in, but Zgodzinski said he won't be surprised if the county goes red.
If Lucas County reaches the risk level, then a mask mandate will be put in place for the whole county.
