Transparency News, 4/17/20

 

To determine how testing protocols for COVID-19 vary across the United States, we sent requests under public records laws to all 50 states, New York City, and Washington, D.C. The requests were sent to health departments the week of March 16 and were identical. The database below contains responses we have received, as well as publicly available guidance from some jurisdictions.  We categorized the responses by the most common ways states chose to prioritize testing. (Still waiting for a response from Virginia.)
The Markup

Virginia’s legislature has met in some form for over 400 years, during a revolution, a British invasion and a Civil War. But they’ve never had a meeting quite like the one scheduled for Wednesday. Faced with an unprecedented pandemic, lawmakers will meet in new locations. They’re being asked to wear masks but not ties. And they’ll have to keep a cool six feet of distance that won’t allow for the usual lean-and-whispers. One thing the Constitution doesn’t mention: meeting remotely. Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn is considering rule changes that would allow votes from lawmakers’ living rooms during the pandemic. Those plans are still vague and haven’t been released to the public. But it’s possible the House could meet briefly on April 22 to pass new rules, then reconvene virtually the next day to vote on the budget.
VPM

Reporters and the public have been relying on the department’s daily dashboard, which sometimes includes information that’s inconsistent with other reports. On Thursday, for instance, VDH reported 63 outbreaks of COVID-19 within long-term care facilities, with 654 cases and 36 deaths. But Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Henrico — the site of what’s become the deadliest known outbreak of COVID-19 at any nursing home in the country — had confirmed 45 deaths at its facility alone. Virginia’s policy on disclosing coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths highlights the variability of patient confidentiality lawsand how they’re applied across the country. Maryland, for example, recently released a list of COVID-19 cases by zip code — a decision that Charlie Gischlar, a spokesman for the state’s department of health, attributed to a desire for “greater transparency.” “The [department’s] dashboard is evolving to include additional information as it receives and evaluates more data,” he added in an email on Thursday.  And while Virginia has refused to release the names of facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks, Ohio has compiled a list on its public health dashboard. Virginia officials favor a conservative interpretation of the state’s privacy laws. To explain why VDH hasn’t released the names of nursing homes and other facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks, Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver cited a section of Virginia code that requires him to preserve the anonymity of “each patient and practitioner” unless it’s pertinent to “an investigation, research or study.”
Virginia Mercury

This weekend’s Arlington County Board meeting has been postponed. It’s a rare step during unprecedented times. The announcement was made today less than 48 hours before the Saturday morning meeting. In a press release, County Board Chair Libby Garvey said all items on the agenda are being deferred a week and the meeting will now be held on Saturday, April 25. The Board’s Tuesday recessed meeting is also being postponed by a week, and is now set for April 28. The reason for the delay: to allow the state legislature to act to make it legal to hold meetings virtually.
ARLnow.com

Due to the devastating effects of COVID-19, numerous localities have been declaring states of emergency, and last week, at a livestreamed meeting, Westmoreland County’s Board of Supervisors joined in the chorus. With Westmoreland County doing the same, they passed an ordinance declaring that since the pandemic makes it unsafe to assemble many people in one location for public meetings of groups like the Board of Supervisors, School Board, and so on, these meetings could be held through electronic means, which in the case of this particular meeting, and the School Board meeting the week before, meant livestreaming from Facebook. Furthermore, deadlines requiring action by any public entity, its officers, or employees are suspended, though they are still encouraged to take action in order to meet original deadlines.
News on the Neck

 

 

Over half of Americans think it’s acceptable for the government to track the cell phones of people with coronavirus, according to a new poll. The poll found 52% of the U.S. says it’s “somewhat acceptable” for government to track the phones of people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 to better understand how the virus spreads, the Pew Research Center says. The remaining 48% of Americans responded that this would be unacceptable, the poll found. Asked whether it’s acceptable for the government to track the location of people in contact with an infected person, 45% believed it was acceptable while 54% found it unacceptable.
McClatchy

 

 

You don’t have to dig deep into the big box of clichés to uncover “like pulling teeth.” It’s used to describe something that’s hard to do, something that takes a lot of work, something that proves to be more difficult than it should be. To describe getting any sort of information out of the Virginia Department of Health’s Central Shenandoah District — which spans from Rockingham to Bath and Rockbridge counties — with that adage would not be apt. Teeth eventually can be pulled. But in the lock-jawed local world of COVID-19 cases, the Central Shenandoah Health District is only releasing piecemeal information, giving the general public little notice of anything. Last week, it sent out a release confirming one patient in the five-county, five-city district had died from the virus. Then nothing. No county of residence, no city of residence, no information at all to keep the public aware. The lack of transparency is especially tough to swallow when, last week, the Thomas Jefferson Health District, just across the mountain in Charlottesville, held an online roundtable where it was revealed that African Americans in the district were disproportionately contracting the virus. The VDH website breaks down the demographics, but at the state level, not locally. We applaud the Jefferson District for keeping the public informed.
Daily News Record

The government’s work continues as well, not just in what it’s doing to wage war on the coronavirus, but also in the arcane day-to-day business of its boards, agencies and commissions. Meetings must be held and decisions must be made in order for society to function. The circumstances we face, however, can prevent accustomed gatherings of officials and in-person public participation in government activities. Opportunities for the public to comment on or simply keep track of government actions are compromised as we are all intensely focused on the urgent matter at hand. Whether you consider yourself a skeptical watchdog of the government’s activities, or pay as little attention as possible to what your government does, how it conducts its business during this period of canceled in-person meetings matters.
Culpeper Star-Exponent

Access isn’t a new issue: Some critics already say that the current system excludes some citizens simply because working people don’t have the time or money to show up in person at meetings to make themselves heard. Who knows? Perhaps those who have electronic connection capabilities at home, but lack the time to drive to and sit through meetings, might eventually benefit from a hybrid system that allows more interactive participation via an online meeting format. But keep in mind, too, that part of what makes our democracy work is the ability to look our leaders in the eyes and demand answers from them, to insist on personal accountability. It is the ability to see our fellow citizens in action and get a better understanding of their ideas and motives. It is the ability to be enlivened and challenged by the energy of a public meeting, which is always more powerful in person than in an electronic setting. Taking away these elements may artificially sanitize public meetings and strip them of an element of their humanity. Personal accountability among all of us as neighbors, fellow taxpayers, fellow citizens is just as important as personal accountability between citizens and their leaders. Both types are undermined by the distancing necessitated when electronic meetings replace physical gatherings.
The Free Lance-Star