The Oklahoma Department of Health has reversed its course on the release of public health data related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
On Monday, June 1, the department announced it would begin limiting the data released to the public. In the press release, OSDH announced that it "will continue reporting active and recovered COVID-19 cases by county only, as permitted by state law, and the agency will no longer be able to publish COVID-19 data by city, ZIP code, or by long-term care or nursing home facility due to the state's Catastrophic Health Emergency Declaration expiring on May 31, 2020."
Data began disap-pea ring from the state's COVID-19 data tracker as early as Sunday, May 31. City and ZIP code level statistics were removed. Counties with populations of less than 20,000 were grouped into an "other" category with combined infection, death, and recovered patient numbers.
Following media inquiries and reports regarding the changes, Oklahoma House Minority Leader Emily Virgin on June 2 called out Gov. Kevin Stitt for his leadership during the pandemic, referencing both the decision to limit data and his move to create a high-paying position for Gary Cox, whose appointment as the Commissioner of Health the state Senate had refused to confirm.
"Once again the governor is thumbing his nose at the Legislature instead of working with us to generate better outcomes for Oklahomans," she said. "The Senate, who is controlled by the governor's own party, took the rare step to not approve one of the governor's appointees. Instead of taking the loss, the governor created a position where the appointee will be paid more than $22,000 for a month and a half of work advising the new Commissioner of Health how to do the job - a job the state Senate said Cox wasn't qualified to do. It is petty, bizarre, and a complete misuse of taxpayer money.
"This information, paired with the announcement that OSDH is no longer going to release some COVID-19 data, starts to draw into question what exactly is going on at the Department of Health? Why is the governor adamant that this person stays in the loop, and why are we decreasing public health transparency during a pandemic? None of this increases our constituent's confidence in state government.
"For months now, the governor has talked about trusting Oklahomans to make the right choices for their families and themselves. How can we expect them to do that if we stop giving them the most current data? You don't get partial credit for transparency. Governor Stitt needs to live up to his press conference bravado and restore the data."
The Department of Health issued a new statement as part of its June 2 regular daily situation update backtracking on some of the data restrictions.
"By the end of today, the COVID-19 data tracker will resume showing COVID-19 data for all 77 counties, to include counties that are smaller than 20,000 population," the statement read. "On Monday OSDH announced that the agency will no longer be able to publish COVID-19 data by city, ZIP code, or by long-term care or nursing home facility due to the state's Catastrophic Health Emergency Declaration expiring on May 31, 2020."
No further information was provided to indicate which state or federal regulations prohibited the release of that data.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter weighed in on Wednesday, June 3, advising the Department of Health that releasing that data does not violate state or federal law as long as individuals are not identified. Hunter advised that while the law prohibits the release of personal health information, the release of epidemiological data for statistical purpose is allowed if it is done "in such a way that no person can be identified."
According to Hunter's June 3 press release, "the OSDH will resume releasing local infection data and deaths. Demographic data, such as age and race, will only be released in aggregate."