As soon as the first local case of COVID-19 was confirmed by the state Department of Public Health on March 27, the questions started pouring in about where the person worked, where they had been and who might have been exposed. We wish those answers were readily available and easily reportable, but they are not.
We, like many of you have seen national and statewide reports about notable people — congressmen, celebrities, athletes — who have contracted COVID-19. We know details about where they were, who they may have exposed and more.
But for other cases, like the cases that have been confirmed here in Hart County, we know very little. That is because the state Department of Public Health, following medical privacy laws, is not releasing anything more than how many cases have been confirmed per county. Other information, like the genders and ages of patients, is being tracked as an aggregate for the entire state, except when a death occurs. In that case the DPH will release the gender, age, county of residence and whether the deceased had underlying health conditions.
That is why unless a person who is suffering through the novel coronavirus announces their case publicly, or if a company announces an employee has contracted it, reporting on specifics of individual cases is sparse.
Details of a person’s medical history, whether it is coronavirus related or not, are that person’s and the doctor’s who treat them, they are not for public consumption unless a person wants to divulge them.
But we don’t want people’s names. Identity, age and gender is less important than where a patient has been and how they may have contracted the deadly virus. The background information could provide the public a valuable resource in preventing the spread of the disease locally.
Other states are releasing limited information to help people know how cases arrived in their communities. The state DPH in Georgia could, and should, do the same.
Certain limited information is vital to public health, understanding the local threat and informing residents about how pervasive COVID-19 is in their area.
Georgia was a little behind other states in ordering a shelter in place. We hope they will not be long in following other states in providing the public with valuable information that will not compromise a the privacy of a patient.