Interview: Former Indiana lawmaker's new book explores pandemic

It’s been six years since the world shut down because of COVID. State and local leaders had to make public health decisions that had lasting consequences on society.

Former Indiana State Senator James Merritt was one of those leaders. He sat down with Jill Sheridan to talk about his new book "Lessons Learned" — it explores the pandemic, its relation to history and whether we’re ready for the next one.

This transcript has been edited for style and clarity.

Jill Sheridan: It says it right in the title. You know, we're probably not prepared for the next pandemic and it’s something that we see throughout history.

Jim Merritt: Yes, and shame on us. I write in the book that there are 17 scares, if you will, for pandemics since the Spanish flu, and every time, we kind of sweep it under the rug. Because it's hard, it's scary. There are other prerogatives, there are other proposals, and there are other opportunities for public policy. And I saw that, and you know, it's just not there.

President Obama had a left, a playbook of 59 pages, but it wasn't any how to it was all about what is coming, or what to expect. There's nothing in the playbook for Trump to say, 'this is what happened, we need to be prepared this way.' And so most presidents kind of peeked at it, but no one really came with solutions that I do in the 3rd chapter of the book.

Sheridan: Well, I mean, you had a front row seat. You're in the state senate at the time when lawmakers in the state and lawmakers, federally, are trying to figure out what to do at this moment. Was there a moment where you were like, we're making decisions here that are going to have a significant impact?

Merritt: Absolutely, the summer of 2020, happened, and I left the senate in November 2020, stepping away and resigning, but during that summer, I saw a lot of friends who are crisis communicators moving around the statehouse and into room 206, the governor's office, in and out. So I knew what was going on.

And that showed to me a lack of cohesive message. And this book is not a criticism, it's just a demonstration, it's a message of exactly what happened. And the governor was having Facebook Live at 1:30 on most afternoons during the week, and that was his communication channel to 65% of Hoosiers, because that was all broadband covered in the state. You know, we're a rural state, and getting the message out to everybody is very, very difficult.

I thought that he wasn't using the state representatives and state senate, all 150 sets of boots on the ground, to communicate his message. That was really kind of the telling thought I had — that we needed better communication on the federal level and the state level.

But then again, there was so much noise. There are so many experts out there. It was chaotic. It was confusing. And I'm not pointing the finger at Eric Holcomb. I'm pointing the finger at this is what happened, and we need to do better next time.

Sheridan: We did try to use the science that was available at the time. You know, we made decisions based on things like masks that can prevent the spread of germs, basic science decisions that then became politicized. Did you feel that in real time?

Merritt: I'm an enthusiast in watching the political theater, as well as information policy, and with everybody in Washington having a different opinion on masks — CDC makes a mistake on masks in February, we never test masks, what was good and what was effective and what was not.

And so, you know, it is the summer of 2020, when the governor, at one moment, is defending his not having a mask mandate, and then then having a mask mandate. As well as the fact that his credibility was shortened up when he went into the pizza parlor in Brown County without a mask on. I'm not going to say it's a comedy of errors, but it was a very human reaction to it.

One of the reasons why I started writing the book in 2022 is because there was no after action report. There was no commission. I mean, the 911 commission did a really good job of protecting us and going into the future, but there was no commission on the federal level, besides the push to fund local public health by the Holcomb administration, Senator Luke Kenley led that.

There was nothing that the Holcomb administration looked inward and said ‘How could we have done better? How can we help the next administration, Republican or Democrat? How can we offer a playbook or a strategy for them if something happens in the next administration?’ And that's what I fault. 

Sheridan: I think it is interesting in the state right now as we're seeing a divide among some Republicans, that public health does play a significant role in that divide.

Merritt: No question about it. I led the charge with Representative [Ed] Clere on the syringe exchange because I loved counterintuitive issues, and the Safe Haven law and Lifeline law and all those issues.

And then you talk about it, you think, yeah, we're saving lives the political divide and the Holcomb administration, if you recall, in that budget in 2023 they funded all local health departments and as well as started knocking down the cylinders, the silos, between hospitals and mental health and public health and that to me, those silos, are still there.

Sheridan: There are moves now, though that will probably leave us with a lot of that safety net for a lot of people in rural areas, people that are more low-income. Is that a worry as we face possibly another pandemic?

Merritt: Oh yeah, it's incredible if, if the federal government did not vote, if congress did not pass, did not send a billion dollars to Indiana for rural health just recently, I think you would see a number of rural hospitals going under.

I truly think that health care in our rural communities is at risk right now because that billion dollars is going to be spent really, really quickly. And I'm quite concerned about health care in the state of Indiana, for a lot of reasons, the expense as well as the communication and the care itself.

Sheridan: What's one lesson that we should think about as we are six years out from COVID in the State of Indiana?

Merritt: The chief lesson learned is communication and to be nimble. When Mitch Daniels was President of Purdue and August came, they did an outstanding job of preparing their student force, if you will, their faculty to come back to campus and be ready.

And that should have happened with every school, K-12, and all universities and that was his nimbleness. The absolute lesson learned — and there are plenty of them in this book. But the absolute is the idea of communication, of fact, and that there has to be an authority.

Contact WFYI Managing City Editor Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org