Four things to know:
1. Grayson County public health department began posting COVID-19 updates on its Facebook page when the pandemic began. The updates garnered around 27,000 views on information that included how fast the virus was spreading through the county, local hot spots and death rates.
2. Josh Embry, the county’s public health director, even recorded videos and posted them to the page to offer comfort and support to followers.
3. In August, according to the report, staff deleted dozens of explicit or offensive comments, some of which accused Mr. Embry of fear-mongering and others that made death threats. His staff removed inappropriate comments.
4. Mr. Embry decided to stop the daily updates due to “aggressive comments” made toward staff on the page. The department now distributes updates to local media outlets.
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