PHOENIX — A lawsuit over the refusal of the Arizona Department of Health Services to tell the public how many residents of individual nursing homes are becoming ill with COVID-19 has been filed by several news organizations.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court says the health agency has the records that identify at which state-regulated sites, like assisted-living centers and long-term-care facilities, residents are becoming ill.
Instead, the health agency is releasing only information about the number of facilities in each county where the virus has shown up. The state claims additional information would be a breach of personal information.
But attorney David Bodney, representing the plaintiffs, pointed out that none of the records requested by news organizations seek information about individuals. And he said state health officials could redact specific information if, somehow, identifying a specific nursing home or other institution might lead someone to learn an individual’s identity.
The lawsuit comes as the Department of Health Services — and Gov. Doug Ducey — are under increasing pressure to provide more transparency about the number of people in these state-regulated settings who are ill, with multiple reports that some facilities have had outbreaks spread among the residents.
On Monday, Ducey moved to address the issue.
“We want to test everyone inside our long-term-care facilities,” the governor said. “We’re going to increase the testing and prioritize our vulnerable population and staff within congregate settings.”
After being questioned for weeks about the issue of public knowledge, Ducey finally signed an executive order on Monday to provide some information — but not to everyone.
Instead, the governor said that anyone with a relative in one of these facilities who comes down with the virus would be notified, as would someone in a facility where others tested positive. And he said that anyone seeking to place a relative in a facility is entitled to know the facility’s COVID-19 status.
But Ducey’s executive order specifically prohibits anyone who gets the information from disclosing it to anyone else. All efforts by news organizations to get information about infection rates at these facilities have been rebuffed.
State Health Director Cara Christ initially argued that the release of the information would violate the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. But Christ appears to have abandoned that argument after other states began providing the same information.
Dana Kennedy, state director of AARP, pointed out that those rules apply only to employers and health-care institutions and not to public health agencies.
Now Robert Lane, the state health agency’s administrative counsel, is arguing the information is protected under state law.
“Even if the information you seek is a ‘public record,’ under Arizona law privacy, confidentiality, safety, public health, the state’s general responsibility to protect all Arizonans, and other overriding interests outweigh any public interest in disclosure of the information you requested,” Lane wrote Tuesday in a response to a request by Capitol Media Services.
Lane cited specific state statutes he said prohibit disclosure of “communicable disease-related information” and another law he said that medical information that might identify an individual is “confidential and is not available to the public.”
But Bodney, in his legal filings, said the information requested is simply what Ducey himself ordered nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities to provide to the health department: the number of COVID-19-positive residents; the number of transfers to and from acute care hospitals; the number and type of personal protective equipment; and the estimated use of each type of PPE per week.
None of that, Bodney said, would identify any resident.
Conversely, he said, there is a public benefit to releasing the information — and not only to those who have relatives in these facilities or are considering moving them into one.
“Disclosure, too, will allow the public and public policymakers to reach more informed judgment about the containment of this public health crisis in Arizona,” Bodney wrote on behalf of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix TV channels 3, 5, 12 and 15.
The Health Department has set up a “dashboard” of information about the virus.
But the only data available on congregate care settings goes to the number of facilities with positive cases. The most recent posting shows a total of 208 different facilities that fit that category, led by 79 assisted-living facilities and 44 long-term-care facilities.
Of that 208 total, 131 are in Maricopa County, with 52 in Pima and 10 in Pinal, though that last group of facilities might also include state prisons.
Cochise and Mohave counties each have four facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks, with three in Yavapai, two in Navajo and one each in Yuma and La Paz counties.
Other data points to the effect on the elderly: While those 65 and older make up about 23.5% of the 9,305 state cases reported so far, they also account for 308 of the 395 deaths in the state, with that tally having gone up by 33 just on Tuesday, according to health officials.
Photos for April 23: Tucson gets by during Coronavirus Pandemic
Tucson, coronavirus
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Erika Munoz, owner of Seis Kitchen, hands over a bag of meals to Michael Gallagher Carondelet, a registered nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital, to distribute to other nurses and hospital workers, on April 23, 2020. The donation was made in conjunction with A+C (Athletes/Artists+Causes) Foundation's “Project Frontline.” In two deliveries, 400 meals (200 poc chuck chicken and 200 puerco verde burritos) will be given to medical personnel at Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital. The particular donation was made possible by the Houston Astros' Pitching Coach Brent Strom, who lives in Tucson.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Hospital workers wheel in carts full of catered meals donated by Seis Kitchen to Carondelet St. Joseph's Hospital, on April 23, 2020. The donation was made in conjunction with A+C (Athletes/Artists+Causes) Foundation's “Project Frontline.” In two deliveries, 400 meals (200 poc chuck chicken and 200 puerco verde burritos) will be given to medical personnel at Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital. The particular donation was made possible by the Houston Astros' Pitching Coach Brent Strom, who lives in Tucson.
Tucson, coronavirus
Updated
Kristi Hall, a sixth grade teacher at Desert Sky Middle School, participates in planning a lesson with a fellow teacher on Zoom, at her home on April 17, 2020. Schools in the Vail School District are supposed to open in July due to their year-round school calendar. Plans are being made for the possibility of students returning to the physical classroom.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Bry Kelley, a warehouse assistant, places a pallet filled with food down next to other items donated to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on on April 21, 2020. Forty-one thousand pounds of flour, pasta and canned goods were donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The donation is part of an ongoing global effort by the church to address immediate needs of people and orgainzations due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Tucson, coronavirus
Updated
A pallet of food is placed down next to other items donated to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on on April 21, 2020. Forty-one thousand pounds of flour, pasta and canned goods were donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The donation is part of an ongoing global effort by the church to address immediate needs of people and orgainzations due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Tucson, coronavirus
Updated
Christian Bergman, 4th year University of Arizona medical student, takes the temperature of a patient outside the Z Mansion, 288 N. Church Ave., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. Medical students from the University of Arizona and other universities volunteer to help the homeless population with the growing concerns of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) within the homeless population. “This is a vulnerable population in our community; they can’t defend themselves in a society already running short on supplies and resources,” said Bergman. Medical students and medical personal help by giving out food, drinks with electrolytes and masks to the homeless. Those who are sick, medically impaired or have been exposed to those with COVID-19 are isolated outdoors in tents on the property. As of Sunday April 19, there were 13 individuals whom are isolated in tents.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Lekha Chesnick, 1st year medical student at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, talks with a homeless man (whom choose to not give his name) outside of the Z Mansion, 288 N. Church Ave., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. Medical students from the University of Arizona and other universities volunteer to help the homeless population with the growing concerns of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) within the homeless population. Medical students and medical personal help by giving out food, drinks with electrolytes and masks to the homeless. Those who are sick, medically impaired or have been exposed to those with COVID-19 are isolated outdoors in tents on the property. As of Sunday April 19, there were 13 individuals whom are isolated in tents.
Tucson, coronavirus
Updated
Christian Bergman, 4th year University of Arizona medical student, checks on a patient outside the Z Mansion, 288 N. Church Ave., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 19, 2020. Medical students from the University of Arizona and other universities volunteer to help the homeless population with the growing concerns of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) within the homeless population. “This is a vulnerable population in our community; they can’t defend themselves in a society already running short on supplies and resources,” said Bergman. Medical students and medical personal help by giving out food, drinks with electrolytes and masks to the homeless. Those who are sick, medically impaired or have been exposed to those with COVID-19 are isolated outdoors in tents on the property. As of Sunday April 19, there were 13 individuals whom are isolated in tents.
Tucson, coronavirus
Updated
Elliott Dumont, owner of Roadrunner Bicycles, 6177 E. Broadway Blvd., works on a customer's bike on April 22, 2020. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has not slowed down bike shops. With many people at home, they are bringing bicycles for repairs and buying new ones for exercise. Dumont says he's booked out till the first week of May for tuneups on bikes.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Elliot DuMont, owner of Roadrunner Bicycles, 6177 E. Broadway Blvd., far left, helps Ethan Sasz, far right, and his son, Evan, 10, with a mountain bike purchase on April 22, 2020. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has not slowed down bike shops. With many people at home, they are bringing bicycles for repairs and buying new ones for exercise. Dumont says he's booked out till the first week of May for tuneups on bikes.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Marcella Montoya waits in her vehicle as general manger David Kessler brings out her order, as Bear Canyon Pizza serving their customers despite COVID-19 restrictions, April 22, 2020, Tucson, Ariz.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Kitchen manger Koa Hoffmann tosses dough while working up a crust for a call-in order as he and few others keep cooking at Bear Canyon Pizza despite COVID-19 restrictions, April 22, 2020, Tucson, Ariz.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Alvaro Enciso, a local artist, works in one of his studios at his home on April 9, 2020. Every Tuesday Enciso travels into the Sonoran desert to post crosses where migrants have died after crossing illegally over the U.S./Mexico border as part of a project he's titled Donde Mueren Los Suenos / Where Dreams Die. With the outbreak of the coronavirus disease his six year project is on hold and instead he works on other artwork at home.
Tucson, coronavirus
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Dolly Spalding works on a pen and ink drawing in her apartment at the Redondo Tower Apartments on April 7, 2020. During her quarantine, Spalding has been creating drawings of all the Greek goddesses. She is collaborating with Emlyn Boyle, an artist from Ireland, and plans to publish a book with Boyle's writings.
