St. Louis top lawyer says city health director 'not quite' qualified for position [View all]

ST. LOUIS — The official in charge of the city’s response to the coronavirus does “not quite” meet the qualifications for the job, the city’s attorney told members of the Board of Aldermen on Wednesday.

Responding to questions during an online hearing, City Counselor Julian Bush said the city’s health director, Dr. Fredrick Echols, “almost” met the requirements in the city charter for the position.

“I will have to say, very regretfully, because I think he’s done a splendid job as director of health and hospitals, I think he almost satisfies those requirements, but he’s not quite there,” Bush said.

Christine Ingrassia, D-6th Ward, said neither Mayor Lyda Krewson nor Echols warned them about how the virus could affect the city until several weeks after Echols now claims he knew there would be a significant impact. And Sharon Tyus, D-1st Ward, said the health department had not devoted enough testing to ZIP code areas with high infection rates, including in her ward.

Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/st-louis-top-lawyer-says-city-health-director-not-quite-qualified-for-position/article_cd8d4099-d29c-5b5d-9705-a2dc660ecacc.html