Six years after COVID-19 turned Indiana upside down, Jim Merritt has a blunt message in his new book: “Lessons Learned: Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic? History Says No.” And he may have a point.
From the Black Death to the Spanish Flu to COVID-19, pandemics keep showing up and we keep acting surprised. Merritt watched 2020 unfold from the Indiana Senate, through 70 executive orders, confusion, and a whole lot of “build the airplane while we’re flying it.” What never came afterward was the one thing a serious state would insist on: a real after‑action report. No commission, no comprehensive review, just a political desire to move on.
Merritt isn’t just taking swings at Eric Holcomb. He’s focused on something bigger: trust and credibility. When only about 65% of Hoosiers had broadband, daily Facebook Live briefings were never going to reach everyone. The legislature never really became a trusted local megaphone. Into that vacuum rushed social media, anger, and conspiracy theories.
Merritt highlights successes—Purdue under Mitch Daniels, telehealth, even wastewater testing—but his core warning is simple: if we don’t tell the full truth about what happened, we won’t be believed next time. And there will be a next time.
