Despite federal laws protecting the identities of patients, hospitals in at least four states have been caught reporting to police the identities of those who test positive for COVID-19.
“In a growing number of cities and states, local governments are collecting the addresses of people who test positive for the coronavirus and sharing the lists with police and first responders,” ABC News reports.
“Law enforcement officials say this information sharing — which is underway in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Florida, and in select areas of North Carolina — will help keep officers and EMTs safe as they respond to calls at the homes of people who have been infected,” ABC News reports.
Many are skeptical of the claim the lists are necessary to protect first responders, as most people do not seek tests, most carriers do not show symptoms and standard protocols require them to treat everyone they encounter as possibly infected.
A list of those who tested positive would not change how police, firefighters, and EMTs respond to a call.
Many suspect the true purpose is to compile a database of those who can later be forcibly confined to their homes, as was done in Kentucky, where police surrounded the home of a man with COVID-19 and threatened him with arrest if the left the property.
“It’s not clear how this information sharing is taking place, or what precautions the government is using to share the sensitive data,” Carol Rose, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, tells ABC News.
“Who is in charge of making sure the information isn’t being misused or abused? How many people can access the data, and who is providing oversight of that access? Who will be responsible for ensuring the information is safely deleted once the order is rescinded? Even in a public health emergency, the government must make every effort to protect the rights of people experiencing illness or at risk of illness.”
Some police departments are even speaking out against the spy lists.
“Since COVID-19 is widely spread in our community, we worry that disclosure of the names and addresses of known COVID-19 cases would provide first responders with an incorrect assessment of where the risk lies and actually lead to reduced safety for our first responders,” Neetu Balram, a spokeswoman for the Alameda, California police department, tells ABC News.
Explore our interactive COVID-19 map below to learn about the latest updates from every state!
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Michael Brigham
Michael Brigham has written for American Action News since the summer of 2019. His areas of expertise include foreign affairs, government, and politics, but regardless of the subject matter, he has a nose and an insatiable appetite for news. In his free time, he enjoys reading nonfiction, watching a mix of comedies and true crime documentaries, and spending time away from the swamp hiking in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
Where were the police when Chris Cuomo was wandering around LI?
In the parking lot eating Donuts!
Well Kentucky is the state that keeps putting McConnell in the Senate. I guess the GESTAPO type attitude is to be expected. They believe all the citizens are nothing but inmates in their control. Too bad the man did not try to make a break for it. That could have wound up costing some cops their lives or a lot of money.
I believe their Gov is a Democrat and makes the law
Judy, please don’t give them facts and truth they will still refuse to open their eyes.
Their hatred and animosity toward our President blinds them to the truth. As they say, “None are so blind as they who refuse to see.”
FYI – The “Gov” does not make laws.
Don’t play games, you know damn well what Judy meant!
No they call it executive order and have it enforced as if it was law – where is the difference.
we have a two tiered system-politicians and the privileged-celebrities includes media are above reproach and and above the law. We can eat ice cream!
(Just cheaper brands than them!)
You cannot think the NY police would arrest a leftist!
this is totaly aganest federal law the only people that the hospitals are supposed to release any info about to is the state health dept. for record keeping and that does not nessary include the names the people that their info has been shared should sue the hospital that relised it and the department that collected it because it volates the HIPPA laws
You don’t think the vacuous liberals let a little thing like established law stop them, do you, Truckman? They obey only ONE “law” — “do as I say and not as I do.” Biggest clown car of hypocrites our country has ever seen!
Federally illegal in violation of the law that protects the privacy of patients. health care providers must follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule (Privacy Rule), a federal privacy law that sets a baseline of protection for certain individually identifiable health information (“health information”).
…BUT-> They will not release the names of HIV patients .
HIV is not a respiratory disease like COVID-19. HIV is not an aerosol transmissible disease.
Still, there are people who knowingly have HIV, who hop around, and do not tell new encounters about their health. With this logic, they should be branded just as these Covid victims are being branded.
Sorry Jean. That comment was meant for that idiot-Seriously.
I’ve worked in a hospital since 1969 in several capacities as I furthered my education….all patients are treated as if they are HIV positive…..but we MUST know if a patient has HIV/AIDS if a staff member gets an accidental exposure to their blood or other body fluids. The staff member is then tested…& re-tested to insure new patients are not exposed! In the medical community we understand there are MULTIPLE ways to acquire HIV – no judgement made!!! Just caution used to TRY & protect ALL!
Are you just stupid? Terry Thompson was not saying HIV was a respiratory disease. You’re just an A$$hole aren’t you!?
I guess I missed your point, Seriously? Contagious is contagious, and “transmissable” is “transmissable,” regardless of method of contracting the disease/infection. And ALL medical records are supposed to be held private, regardless of what the illness is, or whether or not it can be transmitted to another person.
They are totally ignoring HIPA laws. Several states are also proposing the contact tracing be done by far left organizations-Mi had to cancel two contracts because of push back since the companies getting the large contracts were dnc operative and even wished Trump would get the virus. NY is looking at letting Bloomburg be in charge of the contact tracing. In theory this sounds like a great idea but do you really want everyone under the sun having your personal information? If you tested positive, do you want everyone in your community to know? Do you want to give all your personal information to unknowns who can not even keep top secret gov information out of the press? Too risky for me. What would the left and the press have said if we made a registry of HIV positive people and let an unknown organization have that list??
What is HIPA?
I am not an attorney but the way I understand it it is Basically is a law that forbids health care providers revealing any part of your medical history other than in the health community for treatment.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Boy! Other people are right! You ARE and a$$hole!
Federal law is meaningless when it is the federal government promoting the violation of the law.
I am an American citizen with an American passport.
I do not live in the United States.
I tested positive for the virus almost three months ago and still do.
I am asymptomatic and probably always will be because I am not susceptible to “catching viral infections. The last time I “caught” the flu was over 30 years ago.
My Md has told me that I will most likely test positive for Covid ten years from now and still never have symptoms. I will carry it, but never “get” it.
I was told by Customs and Border Patrol that I will NOT be allowed back into America, my home, until I can PROVE negative for at leas 6 months (in other words, NEVER). This is not only unconstitutional, but against several federal laws. Even Trump hasn’t the authority to strip citizenship from anybody except under specific circumstances — illness is not one of those.
It’s obvious that if the federal government is encouraging breaking the law, the law does not exist.
Totally against privacy laws. Hospitals need to be reported.
Each patient who has had their information exposed should sue the Hospital, the individuals who exposed it, the Police Department, the City, the State, and the politicians who allowed it, for damages, pain and suffering, and every other penny they can think of to send a strong message, then if this information is USED in anyway start the procedure all over again.
Thats right people. Biggest crackdown ever by Democrat run states. A glimpse of what to come if they take the White House.They are already violating our 2nd amendment rights. They hate our constitution because it doesn’t allow them to get the power over the people that they want.They expected to get that in 2016 but lost the race and then insanity took over. Our country has suffered a great deal in the last 3 years. The elections in November will either make us a free republic or a Socialist Nation. Voters especially our younger voters really need to Investigate,that is
to study the real history of Socialist countries and the history of our country and so many want to live here.
Astute observation. The Communist/Democrat Party is moving fast to take away Americans personal freedoms. Their plan to steal the election from President Trump and the republican Senate is at full speed as Obama works his corruption to force Americas to yield their independence and become the last country to oppose European socialism.
This whole pandemic is the perfect illustration of living under “socialism”. It’s a prime teaching time to the younger generation.
I’ve been amazed before about how humble our Founding Fathers had to be to write their own limitations into our Constitution. They knew their own sinful nature and how easily it would be to get puffed up with power. This all comes back to me as I see even local leaders -even Republicans starting to get puffed up with a new sense of power with this pandemic. It’s like they feel like they can be Superman-coming to save the day. Their is only one Savior.
More like Communism – I feel like we’re all hiding out in an attic with the hope of not being located –
As a retired healthcare provider, I would have been thrown UNDER THE BUS for violating HIPPA! Most healthcare providers are terrified by HIPPA and the “HIPPA Police”. On the other side, “Big Brother” is free to ignore THEIR law by calling it “something else. This isn’t the United States of America that grew up in, respect, and love.
Although I CAN’T ignore the rationale, they should (and perhaps DID) get permission from EACH patient before passing protected medical information.
The rationale is not sound because smart first responders would treat everyone they encounter as if they are infected. Moreover, since not everyone is being tested, the logic is flawed because how many people have the virus but haven’t been tested? It’s also been revealed that the tests are nowhere near as accurate as the “experts” have been telling us so people may be infected but the test doesn’t show it or it may give a false positive
Bullshit!
What happened to HIPAA? Where are our rights? NC’s governor doesn’t care about the people of the state at all – it’s pure politics to him. He’s tried to change the voting rules to where he can unilaterally make a change to allow mail-in voting due to the COVID crisis – without cleaning up the voter roles (almost 1 million inactive names on the roles), after vetoing a bill that would prevent non-citizens from voting, AND that would not require any sort of pre-registration/verification of identity/witnesses, etc… In other words, they could make up over 994,000 illegal votes and submit them while losing the conservative votes ousting him from office! So it’s no surprise that NC is part of this and it’s probably sanctioned by Cooper himself. Drones that take your temperature? Total loss of our constitutional freedoms if we allow it to continue.
In California, the liberals running this former ‘golden state’ into the ground want to make voting via mail in ballots in Santa Clara County and elsewhere due to the pandemic. Anyone who agrees this is a good idea needs to get their heads out of their asses and pretty damned quick. This is another bamboozle and trick to steal the election period.Wake up America and soon, for your future and America’s future ’cause with the liberals in charge there’ won’t be much of a future. Quick question; do you want what’s been happening with the liberals a permanent thing? hopefully not.
BULL SHIT
THEY ARE
INFRINGEING ON OUR RITE !!! TO PRIVACY
NO MATTER WHAT
EXCUSE THEY COME UP WITH
WELCOME TO THE
COMUNEST
POLICE STATE
PEOPLE
Please learn to spell.
Agree.
what a surprise, bunch of Anti Hate America communists! You see that they are using this and pushing and pushing to see just how much they can get away with. And they Are!! They hate each and every free thinking American. They Hate the founding principles of this country. This is getting out of control, the trampling of civil liberties. They Love this opportunity to destroy freedom and control all of society. It’s sickening what’s happening
if you feel ok, why get tested, keep you life private, unless you are ill.
The Police are told when, where and how to investigate. If we could only Wipe Out the top officials in each dept.
So, will HIV/AIDS be next? Will the list just keep growing? Who decides?
It’s hard to believe that Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats look like Adolf Hitler and his regime. Just remember, if you vote democrat you have voted for Hitler regime.
Have they never heard of HIPPA! They should not be disclosing anything without the patient’s written permission — The Feds should find out who is doing this and prosecute them!
This is a violation of HIPPA Laws, they are guilty of a crime. In addition, the victim can file a civil lawsuit for the violation and recover money damages.
This is a serious violation of Law.
What about other infectious diseases? Let’s see syphilis, Hepatitis A, B, C, Cytomegaly virus, influenza (which results in more deaths) strep throat, almost forgot the highly transmissible Meningitis. Of course the list goes on and on.
So, due to HIPPA laws, the hospital can’t give information to my family, unless I give them permission – – but now they can give it to the police? This is a blatant violation of privacy laws.
It is obvious some Governors are getting an overblown sense of what they are able to do under the constitution. Some are acting like they are Gestapo and that does not belong in the United States of America. Back off and allow people to use their common sense to protect themselves.
This nation has a lot to re-learn about our civil liberties since the leftist education machine has taken over in an awful lot of places.Leftist parents and leftist schools can not expect to teach the our God Given Rights anymore. We must enforce the law in the public eye to do that! Or fight another Revolution?
Outrageous! Is this place we call America becoming more like ‘commie’ china or what? This goes against medical ethics and any hospitals or doctors who are complicit in this need to be closed and sued and medical licences revoked. Medical records and files are confidential and none of anyone’s God damned business, period. if anyone out there thinks this will be deleted after this pandemic’s over, they’ve got their head up their asses ‘been smoking the wrong kind of weed and need to go back to school. The nazi’s did this in Germany in the thirties with the Jews and other ‘undesirables’ and we all know what happened.
All of these Democrat Governors Are brutalizing the Citizens of their state and at the same time they are stopping all Manufacturing and closing all Businesses just the purosly Destroy the ecomony just to make the President look bad and to turn the Republican citizens against President Trump. That is their plan.
This is a blatant violation of federal privacy laws. The Justice Department should investigate, and a few class action lawsuits are in order.
KY governor is a democrat. He is using executive orders to put healthy people under house arrest, shutting down the economy, shutting down legal protesting, etc. I know this because I live in KY. I refuse to follow this idiot.