Tennessee reverses course after backlash over not releasing county-level coronavirus cases

[spanone]

The government you get with a republican house, senate & governor.

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increases in Tennessee, state officials stood behind a decision to no longer release county-level data — a move critics said was a step backward that will generate confusion.

But after facing a backlash of criticism, the state once again reversed course, opting to release county-level information about coronavirus cases.

The back-and-forth began last week, when the state announced its first case of the coronavirus, or COVID-19. Department of Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said the 44-year-old man was a Williamson County resident.

“While we typically do not disclose county-level data on patients, given the recent severe weather impacts on some counties in Middle Tennessee, we are sharing that this patient is a resident of Williamson County," Piercey said.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/10/tennessee-criticized-not-releasing-county-level-coronavirus-cases/5009197002/

[Tanuki]

1. I have also not seen any local reporting of the fact that the first case in Tennessee,

Last edited Wed Mar 11, 2020, 10:48 AM - Edit history (1)

who lives in Williamson County, was infected while attending the Biogen leadership conference in Boston. This is the single source of 70 (so far) of Massachusetts' 92 (so far) cases. I only know this because I used to live in the Boston area, subscribe to the Globe online , and have seen passing reference to the Tennessee case several times. I would think that local reporting of this here in TN would serve the interest of public health by making people more aware of how easily even one case can sicken a multitude of unsuspecting people. As far as I have seen, they have only said he was attending a conference there without mentioning Biogen