McMaster directs DHEC to release coronavirus ZIP-code data that had been withheld
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday directed the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control to reverse course and publish the number of positive COVID-19 cases associated with each county ZIP code after outcry from state lawmakers and members of the media and public.
In exchange, the state’s health agency responsible for the state’s response to the coronavirus outbreak also will release projected numbers of potential positive COVID-19 cases — people that have not been tested yet — in each ZIP code, said Brian Symmes, McMaster’s spokesman.
“Starting today, I have directed @scdhec to publicly disclose the up-to-date numbers of confirmed #covid19 cases by local zip code,” McMaster tweeted on Friday. “In addition they will provide the estimated number of residents who are likely infected and untested within that same zip code.”
The governor said that providing that non-identifying information would not violate any state or federal privacy laws.
McMaster said that that information is in the public’s interest.
“It is my hope this disclosure will reinforce to South Carolinians the seriousness and dire necessity of staying home to prevent the spread of #covid19,” McMaster tweeted.
Health officials initially released the ZIP-code breakdown last month, providing the public with more information about how COVID-19 was spreading in their communities.
“Just saying (coronavirus) is in a county is kind of generalized,’ state Rep. Laurie Slade Funderburk, D-Kershaw, told The State last month. “The county associations were wanting this.’’
First responders also wanted that data, arguing the more information they have about a residence and whether someone inside had a positive case of COVID-19, the better they would be able to protect their own health.
But then in just a matter of days, DHEC scrubbed that information from its website. Instead, health officials chose to only post the ZIP codes in each county that had reported at least one positive case of the coronavirus, saying they did not want South Carolinians to read too much into the data.
“There are other people in the community who have not yet been diagnosed,’’ state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said last month.
In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Bell called ZIP code-level releases a “distraction” that could violate patient privacy, saying the release of too much information could lead to the accidental identification of a patient, as she said happened in the pandemic’s early days.
Bell said the best way to mollify the outbreak is for all South Carolinians to act as if anyone with whom they come into contact may be infected, rather than merely avoiding “hot spot” areas. She also added her agency would continue to disseminate information in a way she felt would best safeguard the public.
“What would people do differently if we give more granular information, when what is needed is the measures that we have recommended all along, for the community as a whole?” Bell told the AP Wednesday. “And that’s when we don’t release additional information — when it is of no additional benefit to protect the public health.”
However, in understanding those concerns, McMaster’s spokesman Symmes said that governor thought putting that data back on DHEC’s website was important information to get out to the public.
State lawmakers commended the governor’s order, including Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, who called DHEC’s initial reversal “misguided.”
“Thank you @HenryMcMaster for your help in requiring DHEC to reverse their policy of withholding vital information from the public,” Grooms tweeted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 8:58 AM.
