Talbot County Health Officer Dr. Fahmi Fahmi, named in March 2025, has listed access and shortages among his first jobs. The creeks deserve a place on that list too.

ShoreRivers' 2026 Bacteria Blitz — the third annual sampling round — took place after heavy storms the night before. About 47 percent of sites passed Maryland's recommended swimming standard. That is not a recycle of last year's headline: the 2025 Blitz failed 31 of 40 mid-Shore sites, and the Miles-Wye and Eastern Bay cluster passed one of seven. Enterococci counts are how the state signals whether a beach day carries elevated risk.

The county does not post a lifeguard at every landing. Parents, visiting grandparents, and boaters are left to track weekly results on their own. Until the Health Department and Riverkeepers put those numbers where residents actually look — clinic waiting rooms, town docks, the Saturday market — the gap between oyster-restoration talk and a safe swim remains a public-health problem.

If you have an open wound, are older, or are taking a child with a sensitive stomach, treat last week's pass/fail map as part of a practical checkup, not as background scenery. This is a dated health sheet, not a diagnosis.