An Open Letter to Whatcom County Council and Executive Sidhu

In an article published March 28, the New York Times examined the lack of information being given to the public by most health authorities across the U.S. 

Glenn Cohen, an expert in bioethics at Harvard Law School, says the guiding principle during this crisis should be sharing more rather than less.

“Public health depends a lot on public trust,” he said. “If the public feels as though they are being misled or misinformed their willingness to make sacrifices — in this case social distancing — is reduced.”

“That’s a strong argument for sharing as much information as you can,” he said.

Up to now, the Whatcom County Health Department has provided extremely limited Covid-19 case information. The website lists the number of cases and deaths, the number of negative tests and a breakdown by age. It gives no breakdown by gender and, most importantly, provides no location. It has variously cited HIPAA restrictions and the fact that as Covid-19 cases are now the result of community spread, making location information superfluous.

If HIPAA is the reason, why does the department tell the public about cases in senior homes? If the public can figure out who has COVID-19 if they know the person lives in, say, Deming, wouldn’t they figure out who has it in a much smaller nursing home? Other jurisdictions are much more open about location than this county. The fact is, it does matter to the public where these cases are located. Take Point Roberts or Glacier, for example. Residents are much more likely to take social distancing seriously if they know the disease is close to hand. There are dozens of small population pockets where people are under the impression that they are safe.

How much testing is being done? Who is being tested? How many tests are available? How long is it taking to get results back? As of April 2, 23.4 percent of people being tested in the county are coming up as positive. That compares to 8 percent for Washington state. Experts say a 10 percent positive rate indicates a sufficient level of testing. Whatcom County figures indicate that not enough testing is being done and/or the county has a far higher rate of infection than what’s known. Both conclusions are likely to be correct.

What’s the breakdown in those succumbing to the disease? Age and gender? Who knows?

When this pandemic is over, the people will be looking for answers. How did our country do such a lousy job in preparing for this disaster? Who was responsible? Did so many people need to die? Was the government transparent? Were we told the truth? The people won’t just be looking at the folks at the top. They’ll looking at the county, too. They’ll be looking at you.