Oklahoma state health officials announced a move Monday to begin restricting the release of some previously publicly available COVID-19 data.
However, the Oklahoma State Department of Health reversed course 24 hours later following backlash from both members of the public and the media.
An employee at the OSDH Commissioner’s Office, who was not authorized to speak on the record, reported their office received four phone calls immediately following a conversation with The Madill Record.
The decision to restore data was shared in the agency’s daily situation report email on June 2.
It stated that, “By the end of today, the COVID-19 data tracker will resume showing COVID-19 data for all 77 counties, to include counties that are smaller than 20,000 population.”
In an e-mail sent on the morning of June 1, the OSDH said it would, “no longer be able to publish COVID-19 data by city, zip code, or by long-term care and nursing home facility due to the State’s Catastrophic Emergency Declaration expiring on May 31, 2020.”
During the pandemic, The OSDH has been releasing data to the public through a page on its website, (coronavirus. healh.ok.gov).
One item not addressed by the agency’s statement the morning of June 1 was the decision to combine COVID-19 case numbers and related data for all counties with a population of less than 20,000 people. As a result, “other” is listed as the fifth-highest county total in the state with a total of 383 cases as of June 1.
Research into Oklahoma counties by population showed the “other” category covers 36 of the state’s 77 counties including Marshall, Atoka, Johnston, Love and Jefferson.
The reasoning behind the use of “other” to combine the data for multiple counties was not immediately clear.
The Madill Record did receive a response from a member of the OSDH communications staff after multiple requests for clarification were left with their office.
In an e-mail sent Monday night, Rob Crissinger, a communications and manager for OSDH, pointed to the expiration of the emergency declaration.
“The Catastrophic Health Emergency (CHE) approved by the Legislature on April 7 allowed the Governor to effectively waive the confidentiality provisions of state law found in 63 OS 1-502.2,” Crissinger wrote. “With the expiration of the CHE on May 31, however, the confidentiality provisions were reinstated, which means OSDH can no longer report city or zip code-level data, or data for counties smaller than 20,000.”
Crissinger’s e-mail continues, “the federal HIPPA law allows disclosure if permitted by state law, and the Legislature attempted to fix this problem by amending 1-502.2 to permit disclosures permitted by HIPPA with the passage of HB 2938. But, attorneys have determined the language didn’t go far enough because it left in place the portion of State law that requires individuals to be offered an individual proceeding under the Admin Procedures Act prior to disclosure. This means, more than 5,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to date would need to pursue this proceeding in order to allow their positive tests to be registered in city or zip-code level data. We would need 100% participation in order for the data to be accurately reflected at more granular levels, and we’d need continued participate in this proceeding moving forward for future cases.”
Crissinger said the health department is looking at ways to restore the data.
“We are researching whether there are possible legal interpretation solutions to the issue, as requested by the Governor and as clearly desired by the Legislature’s intent with HB2938, to reinstate levels of COVID-19 data reporting that the State views as critical for the public and local elected officials when making public health decisions during this pandemic,” he said.
The earlier statement released by OSDH indicated that the agency is working with the the office of Governor Kevin Stitt to find other ways to share COVID-19-related data.
“[We] are actively exploring additional legal opinions and solutions to ensure the public, the medical community, and elected leaders can access relevant COVID-19 data that will allow for quick and effective decision-making while Oklahoma awaits a treatment or vaccine to mute the novel virus,” the agency’s statement continued.
The statement went on to quote Kristin Davis, the agency’s communications director.
“OSDH will continue to publish daily the most recent active and recovered COVID-19 cases by county,” Davis said. “The State’s infrastructure is in a much stronger position for continuing to address the presence of the novel coronavirus, and the core purpose of the emergency declaration is no longer needed. At the same time, Governor Kevin Stitt and Commissioner Lance Frye continue their shared commitment to transparency and availability of critical COVID-19 data. They have tasked the State’s legal experts to explore other options for providing critical health data that would support all stakeholders’ decision making during the presence of COVID-19, while also safeguarding Oklahomans’ protected health information.”
Frye was named the interim commissioner of OSDH on May 22 by Gov. Stitt. Frye’s appointment followed the departure of prior Health Commissioner Gary Cox after he was unable to be confirmed by the State Senate last month.
The Catastrophic Emergency Health declaration was granted by the Oklahoma Legislature on April 7 following a request by Stitt.
The declaration allowed addition state resources to be directed toward efforts to combat the pandemic in Oklahoma.
The OSDH statement added that during the emergency period, the governor also waived statutory requirements to allow for more detailed reporting of COVID-19 data.
The agency will continue to issue the daily media advisory with cumulative statewide COVID-19 data, according to their statement.
The release stated that three additional reports would continue to be published: the COVID-19 Dashboard, the Governor’s daily Executive Order Report and the weekly The Weekly Epidemiology Report.
The Executive Order Report provided both city and county level detail on the number of ICU beds available across Oklahoma.
As of June 1, the total number of cases reported in Oklahoma sits at 6,573. This includes 67 new cases being reported. No additional deaths were reported in Oklahoma, but nationwide the June 1 report showed 605 additional deaths bringing the country’s total to 104,381.
Both the governor’s office and state health officials have long touted the number of recovered patients 5,511 out of 6,573 total patients.
However, the remaining 1,062 cases appear to include the 986 Oklahomans who have been hospitalized by COVID-19. Of that number, 334 or 33.87% have died. Meanwhile, the mortality rate for all of the state’s COVID-19 patients sits at 0.3%.