We’re adjusting to state’s schedule

A couple of hours make a big difference.

During Friday’s news briefing Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box announced that the Indiana State Department of Health coronavirus updates would be changing. Instead of 10 a.m. each day, Indiana numbers will be updated at noon.

The shift is intended to give the department of health a bit more time to confirm the accuracy of the reports it received from the previous day.

That’s a worthy pursuit.

But it also throws off our timeline.

Let’s explain.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve fallen into a routine. Each afternoon we keep an eye on press briefings from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine at 2 p.m. and then Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb at 2:30 p.m. (If there is major news, you see it on our website and social media accounts as soon as possible.) We monitor news from not only Jay County Health Department, but the health departments of each of the adjacent counties.

Then, just after 10 a.m. each morning, we check the state department of health website for the updated numbers.

All of that information is then pulled together to have a story complete no later than 11 a.m. to allow us to hit our normal press time. For our schedule, 10 a.m. was the perfect time for updated numbers.

With the shift to a noon update from the state, we won’t be able to get numbers in the newspaper same day they are announced. In fact, by the time we’re able to get them to you in print, they’ll be between 26 and 30 hours old, with new numbers already available via the state’s website.

So, we’re going to change the routine a bit.

We’ll still continue to monitor the press briefings and area health departments for news. But the state numbers will no longer be a driving force in our stories, except in special circumstances (new high numbers, a clear pattern of reduction in new cases, etc.).

Instead, we’ll do two things:

•Run a chart every day that displays total cases, deaths and other information at the state level.

•Shortly after noon each day, publish a story highlighting the new state numbers on our website at thecr.com. (We’ll then update that story after Ohio’s numbers are released at 2 p.m.)

The paywall on our website remains down, so those stories will be available to everyone.

Our goal is to provide you with the most pertinent, timely information via both print and the website.

It’s just another adjustment, added to the list of many we’ve all made, during the coronavirus pandemic.

We hope that sooner, rather than later, we’ll all be able to make other adjustments, away from daily coronavirus concerns and back to a more normal, familiar way of life. — R.C.