Second Member Of DeWine's Cabinet Announces Battle With COVID

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Second Member Of DeWine's Cabinet Announces Battle With COVID

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Karen Kasler

Published November 25, 2020 at 8:45 AM EST

Ohio Department of Mental Health and Drug Addiction Services Director Lori Criss, speaking about her selection by Gov. Mike DeWine (right) to lead that agency in January 2019.

As the coronavirus continues to spread widely and rapidly through Ohio, the head of the state鈥檚 mental health and drug addiction agency has tested positive for COVID-19.

Last Tuesday during Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 virtual COVID press conference, Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Lori Criss said this from her home: 鈥淩emember, taking care of yourself is a priority, not a luxury.鈥�

Criss told her staff in a memo that she tested positive over the weekend. She鈥檇 had minor allergy/cold symptoms and worked with her doctor to get a test. She said she never really felt horrible, she鈥檚 feeling better every day and is isolating at home while teleworking, as she has been since March.

Criss said in the memo she knows she鈥檚 not the only one who鈥檚 gone through this, and urged her staff to take care and quote 鈥� 鈥渢o reach out for help without the worry, shame, or fear that can come from having this illness.鈥�

She鈥檚 the second agency director to announce a battle with COVID. State prisons director this summer.

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Second Member Of DeWine's Cabinet Announces Battle With COVID