Washoe District Health Officer Kevin Dick refused to brief emergency officials and local leaders on his department's coronavirus efforts Wednesday morning after his earlier comments on the county's preparation for a worst case scenario were detailed in a Reno Gazette Journal story.

During the daily call Wednesday with the region's incident command staff and local leaders, Dick declined to provide his usual update on such things as the number of cases and the district's testing efforts because "our call has been compromised."

"I think it is despicable that someone has done this," Dick said on the call. "I won’t be providing any further briefing this morning."

The call is generally attended by more than 50 individuals in local, regional and tribal governments and includes brief updates from the various operations within the Incident Command System.

At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Dick again expressed his "disappointment" that he couldn't brief emergency officials.

"I was disappointed I didn’t have the opportunity to brief this morning because unfortunately the briefing that was a private briefing for me to provide updates on, discussions that were internal, deliberative processes in our response to this were made available," he said.

Dick refused to comment on whether he provided his normal update in a different format.

On Tuesday's call, Dick delivered a grim update on the district's work to prepare for a worst case scenario of a coronavirus surge on local hospitals. Those plans include opening a 300-bed "alternate care site" to relieve burdens on area hospitals.

In a best case scenario, the facility would be used for patients who no longer need hospitalization to recuperate while still receiving oxygen and medical care. Under a worst case scenario, he said the facility could be used for hospice care of those who would die because they couldn't access "the medical care they need."

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During the press conference Wednesday, Dick would not answer why he believed that information should not have been made public.

"I'm not going to comment on that," he said.

Dick's refusal to provide information on the call rankled two local elected officials.

"It was totally surprising," Washoe County Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler said. "I don’t know what to say about it. Truthfully, this is an issue where we as government should be keeping the people as informed as possible."

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said it's vital for the public to get a clear picture on what the continued spread of the virus could mean.

"He needs to be forthright with the information," she said. "This is the stuff the public needs to know. Here’s the thing, I get that people don’t want to get people panicked but right now is the time for everyone to understand the severity of this. We have to do what we can to give out the most accurate information."

Washoe County Manager Eric Brown, however, also described the publication of the information as "unfortunate."

"I think the handling of information is very key as we move forward, (and we need to) make sure it's in a coordinated fashion," Brown said on Wednesday's briefing call. "If the current manner of daily calls isn’t going to work because they're too unwieldy or we have leaks, we should reassess the situation."

Anjeanette Damon is the government watchdog reporter for the RGJ. You can reach her at adamon@rgj.com or follow her on Twitter @AnjeanetteDamon. If you care about shining a bright light on decisions made by your elected officials, please consider subscribing to the Reno Gazette Journal.