Name: State won't collect, release data on coronavirus cases in Tennessee schools
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State won't collect, release data on coronavirus cases in Tennessee schools

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Nashville TennesseanView CommentsA day after a top official in Gov. Bill Lee's administration&nbsp;said Tennessee plans to withhold the number of&nbsp;COVID-19 cases in&nbsp;schools from the public, a spokesperson said the information will not even be collected by the state.&nbsp;&nbsp;When Lee &nbsp;on Tuesday, state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said Tennessee&nbsp;had no plans to provide the public with data on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths at schools as many&nbsp;return to in-person classes.Instead, Piercey said such data sharing would be left up to individual school districts.On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the state health department elaborated on the commissioner's comments, saying patient privacy continues to be a priority."At this time we do not plan to ask school districts to submit formal reports to us about COVID-19 cases, and do not plan to systematically release school-specific information on cases among students and/or staff members," spokesperson Shelley Walker said.&nbsp;Walker said the department will encourage school districts to track COVID-19 cases in an effort to&nbsp;"best understand the burden of disease in their jurisdiction and take appropriate steps to mitigate further spread of illness."But Deborah Fisher,&nbsp;executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the state's approach is inadequate.&nbsp;"Whether it's the Department of Health or the Department of Education, some state agency needs to be paying attention and keeping track of COVID-19 spread in the schools," she said, noting public school operations are highly regulated.&nbsp;"It would seem irresponsible for the state to just look the other way and not track that data."The Tennessee Department of Education also said it will not be collecting any data regarding cases, citing federal privacy laws.&nbsp;"Local school districts must maintain compliance with all state and federal privacy laws, including, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) with regard to any records they maintain regarding cases of COVID-19," an education department spokesperson said in an email.&nbsp;The issue over&nbsp;COVID-19 data collection and schools&nbsp;comes months after&nbsp;the Tennessee Department of Health twice faced criticism for initially refusing&nbsp;to release certain information.Days after Tennessee reported its first case of the virus in March, state officials said they would not publicly share county-by-county data. Instead officials&nbsp;said Tennessee would only identify where new cases occurred by each of the state's three grand divisions.After facing criticism, the and began sharing county-level data.In April, state officials &nbsp;it had collected highlighting the number of cases of the virus at long-term care facilities.&nbsp;Prior to the reversal, the health department&nbsp;cited the need to protect patient privacy.&nbsp;The same reasoning was recently used by Lee's office when it how many employees in the executive branch, including the governor's staff, had tested positive for COVID-19. The legislative branch has released a total number of people that have tested positive.On Tuesday, Piercey offered an explanation about&nbsp;the latest decision to hold back data.She offered a reminder about the state's delay in providing COVID-19 data for cases in&nbsp;nursing homes, saying,&nbsp;"Until (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) gave us clearance to do that, we didn't feel comfortable."Piercey said the decision is ultimately up to schools on whether to release data about COVID-19 cases."Just like with&nbsp;nursing homes, schools can choose to disclose that if they want," she said, noting .On Wednesday, after attending a planning meeting at a school.&nbsp;Piercey said while the Department of Health will not be publishing a school-by-school summary of COVID-19 cases, she anticipates districts will keep parents informed."I think it's highly implausible that — in the age of communication and information sharing that we have&nbsp;—&nbsp;that it will be a secret," she said.&nbsp;But Fisher said that's not enough."It would be unusual and irresponsible if the state wasn't trying to get that information reported to them," she said. "It would seem they would want that information on school outbreaks for the possibility of setting policy."Fisher praised&nbsp;the state's decision to&nbsp;allow&nbsp;local school districts to share the information with the public but said a statewide approach would be better."The more information that people have, the better decisions they can make about what they want to do about their kids," she said. Though many educators haven't directly called for the data to be released, the Tennessee Education Association is encouraging the state to use data&nbsp;— such as new case rates, active case rates, positive tests, availability of tests and other measures — so educators, families and school boards can make informed choices about in-person instruction, TEA President Beth Brown said in a statement.J.C. Bowman, executive director and CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee,&nbsp;a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, echoed Fisher and supports&nbsp;sharing school-by-school case data."As long as you remove any personally identifying data, I think that data should be out there," he said. "We should be able to see that this school had this many student cases, for example. We need to know that."Reporter Meghan Mangrum contributed to this story.&nbsp;Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our&nbsp;&nbsp;gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 261&nbsp;daily&nbsp;sites.Reach Joel Ebert at&nbsp;&nbsp;or 615-772-1681&nbsp;and&nbsp;on Twitter&nbsp;.View Comments

Nashville TennesseanView CommentsA day after a top official in Gov. Bill Lee's administration&nbsp;said Tennessee plans to withhold the number of&nbsp;COVID-19 cases in&nbsp;schools from the public, a spokesperson said the information will not even be collected by the state.&nbsp;&nbsp;When Lee &nbsp;on Tuesday, state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said Tennessee&nbsp;had no plans to provide the public with data on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths at schools as many&nbsp;return to in-person classes.Instead, Piercey said such data sharing would be left up to...

State won't collect, release data on coronavirus cases in Tennessee schools

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