When it comes to sharing COVID-19 related information to the general public, questions and concerns are swirling of what could violate the U.S. law of the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf says HIPAA privacy laws apply to any communicable disease, such as COVID-19, in protecting a patient’s information, whether they test positive or negative for the virus. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio they can’t share information like where the person works or what town they are from, but only if there is a confirmed positive case found in Greene County and an age range. Wolf explains the process they work through when a positive test case in the County is reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

“We reach out to the individual to determine how they are doing and do contact tracing. All of this is done confidentiality. We do not share information (or) any details about the person or their condition, because that’s part of the HIPAA law.”

However, Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Steve King argues that HIPAA is much more general in its approach compared to how it is currently being used. He wants to see more detailed information such as the exact ages of those who have died or who are in intensive care as a result of COVID-19, along with individuals who had pre-existing conditions and whether they are male or female. 

“There’s so many details that would inform us so we could decide ourselves how careful we want to be when this society starts to open up. I think it’s going to take more specificity than we’re getting right now from the Iowa Department of Public Health.”

Click the link below to see what information is being reported statewide with COVID-19.

https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/