The Post Editorial Release more about outbreaks

There was early hope with the first reported coronavirus case in Colorado on March 5 that state health officials would be able to track some cases and notify the public so those potentially exposed could self-quarantine and get tested if symptoms presented.

That hope rapidly dissipated with the realization a few days later that there was already community spread in vulnerable high country cities, and a few days after that, that community spread was occurring in Denver.

Quickly the state stopped providing details publicly about individual cases – what did those details matter if the virus was likely already far more widespread? But at the same time, only those who had known exposures to the virus were able to get tested.

Colorado is by no means unique, and in fact, it’s arguable that our testing was far more robust here than it was in the early weeks in other states.

But that doesn’t mean the state shouldn’t still be releasing as much information as possible about coronavirus cases. In fact, it’s astounding that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is refusing to publicly identify the handful of care facilities – including nursing homes – with known outbreaks of the virus.

There is nothing in the law that would prevent CDPHE from releasing that information publicly. Patient protection and privacy laws only apply to identifying individuals. While we are being told that the state has “notified all who may have been exposed,” a much more thorough notification process would be to release information publicly.

If everyone associated with those care facilities – including family members who may have visited in recent months – knows about the potential outbreak, then what could possibly be the harm of releasing the names of the facilities to the broader public.

During this difficult time, our government agencies must err on the side of transparency. There is value – despite our overwhelmed testing system – of notifying the public about where people with known cases of the virus work and have visited. Arguably it’s less important now than earlier in the virus’ spread, but we are all banking on there being a day in the future where that type of information will be part of a containment effort.

There have, of course, been some notifications – when an employee at a Denver King Soopers tested positive and when a woman in El Paso County tested positive who had attended a large bridge tournament. But as this virus progresses, we think officials should get in the habit of releasing as much information as they have (it’s unclear how much they do have because the virus has spread so rapidly).

Given that some carriers of the virus have no or very mild symptoms, the more detailed information we put in the hands of the public the more empowered Coloradans will be to make good decisions about social distancing, isolation and quarantine.

Trust Coloradans with this information and allow us all to help in the fight to slow the spread of this virus.