A heartfelt message to my readers about the Turner Report's coverage of COVID-19

Though this COVID-19 crisis is nothing like the Joplin Tornado, my experience following that earlier event laid the groundwork for the approach that I have used in covering the virus and its effects on this area.

East Middle School, the school where I taught eighth grade English, was destroyed by the tornado and the Joplin R-8 School District canceled classes for the remainder of the school year.

I decided to use the unexpected vacation to make the Turner Report a source for those wanting information about the tornado.

I published every bit of information I could find about the tornado and after an initial hesitation, I also decided to print the obituaries of those who died either on May 22, 2011, or as a result of the injuries they received that afternoon.

I took note of the important work that was being done by Rebecca and Genevieve Williams of Neosho with their Joplin Tornado Info Facebook page and by the folks at KZRG, who were serving as conduits for information about the tornado and the beginning of the recovery process.








I published some of that information, as well as drawing from the sources I had always used for the Turner Report- political columns, YouTube videos, government news releases and court records.

I was concerned about overwhelming my Facebook friends with all of these posts, but instead I began receiving a considerable number of friend requests and I watched as the traffic on the Turner Report continued to increase.

Through that experience following the tornado, I was able to find more websites that provided important information, not only about the tornado, but on a range of subjects and I have continued to add to that list in the nearly nine years since the tornado.

I drew on that experience as I made two decisions regarding the coverage of COVID-19.

1. I determined that rather than have some of the COVID-19 posts on the Turner Report and others on Inside Joplin and my other blogs, nearly all of them will be on the Turner Report. That is the blog people have gone to for news and commentary about this area for the past 17 years.







2. I expanded the coverage area of the Turner Report because of the large amount of traffic that goes through this area from Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. I have already been running some southeast Kansas news on Inside Joplin and deaths on the Inside Pittsburg Obituaries site. The decisions made by political officials and health officials in those states could easily have as much effect in this corner of the state as the decisions made by Missouri officials.

While there was plenty of information available after the Joplin Tornado, the variety of sources has increased by an incredible amount since 2011.

Nearly every government and governmental agency has a Facebook page and regularly updates it. Many of them do live video on Facebook or have their own YouTube pages.

It is impossible for anyone to keep up with all of the information about this disease and the efforts to combat it, including me, but my job is to sift through the information and provide as much of it as I can to you, so you don't have to search for it.

I will post the White House briefings, Gov. Parson's briefings, news releases and updates, information about area businesses, anything that might have value for you.

You have helped me considerably by pointing me in the direction of information I missed. That is much appreciated.

I intend to do my best to make sure the Turner Report continues to have useful information, not only updates on the effects the coronavirus is having, but also on the actions and remarks being made by our elected officials and business leaders and on the powerful effect this situation is having for all of us.

Thank you for reading.

I won't let you down.