SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Some Minnehaha County officials are looking for more detailed information on positive COVID-19 cases, but the state Health Department says releasing the data would endanger people’s privacy.
Public reporting on positive COVID-19 cases in South Dakota is broken down by county, but the state health department often does not release where a particular positive test took place.
This can be difficult for small towns trying to gauge the spread of the virus in their communities. Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth said at a Tuesday meeting he was in touch with a city councilor looking for more information about the spread of the disease.
“His citizens were saying, ‘We don’t have it here; why do we need to worry?’” Barth said. “He couldn’t find out if they had it.”
State Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon addressed the concerns on a media call Wednesday.
“The issue with reporting out at the municipality level is making sure any information that we put out there does not lead to the identification of specific individuals,” she said.
In other words, releasing data on a small number of cases in a small town could allow the public to figure out who exactly had tested positive, a breach of privacy.
Malsam-Rysdon said if case numbers rose, the state could give out more details.
(KELO.com News Director Todd Epp contributed to this report.)
